Rose Tyler: Earth Defence
by padme's sister
Summary: Torchwood is Rose's life now, but what happens when someone takes that away from her too? And what if you add a time meddler to the mix, throw in a few out of place aliens, add a dash of forbidden love, and a teaspoon of adventure too? Full summary inside
1. Prologue

**Author Note: Hopefully this prologue will explain everything about this story that I have been dying to write for ages, but never got round to. Now I have, however, so I hope you like it. And remember - reviews are good! Constructive criticism is good too...but not plain criticism. Any reviews containing plain criticism (I don't like your story. Its rubbish, etc) will be fed to my pet Cyberman called Dave. **

**So enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Doctor Who...or Torchwood...or anything like that. If I did, Rose certainly wouldn't have left, and if she did, then this story definately WOULD have been made a reality! Oh well...we can all dream, can't we.**

**oOo**

**Prologue**

Did you know that there was actually another Doctor Who spin-off commissioned aswell as Torchwood and the animated K9 series?

Russell T Davies apparently wrote Doomsday, then went into the office the next day, looked Julie Gardner (Executive Producer) in the eye and said "May Bank Holiday, 90 minute special, _Rose Tyler: Earth Defence!"_

Whether he was joking or not, he didn't say. But the programme was actually commissioned by the controller of BBC One, and budgeted, so it can't have been that much of a joke to be taken that seriously!

He hadn't approached Billie Piper formally about it, but he'd mentioned it to her, and she'd liked the idea, so an idea was formed that maybe once a year, there'd be a Bank Holiday special that showed Rose's life after the Doctor, as a female agent of Torchwood, fighting evil and writing wrongs. Russell even had a few of Doctor Who's current script writers agree to write the scripts, and the commission had given him a big budget so that he could produce some amazing special effects. It was, as Russell said "Going to be fantastic!"

However, during filming for Doomsday, Russel decided that it wouldn't be right if fans could see Rose, but the Doctor couldn't. Plus he also had Torchwood and the animated K9 spin-offs in production, and was afraid that this may be one spin-off too far. So the idea was abandoned.

But what if it really had been produced? What sort of things might Rose get up to? Here's what I think.

This is the story of Rose Tyler.

And this is the story of the spin-off that never was.


	2. Torchwood Tower

**Author Note: Ok, I wasn't going to do an author's note here...but then I changed my mind, as you can probably tell...so yeah, this is the first chapter, and its shorter than the usual chapters that are gonna follow, because its just a kind of starter if you like...just to get you going.**

**I hope you like it, and as I say, its an idea that's been playing on my mind for ages, because it really annoyed me that the spin-off wasn't made. I'd certainly have watched it...wouldn't you? Oh well, I guess this way, I can make it up and not have to worry about getting things wrong, because this is my story, so I can do what I like.**

**Although there are the odd moments of humour here or there, this is my attempt at a more serious story, so if it's not too successful, that be why. Now I think I've said enough, so on with the story...**

oOo

Torchwood Tower - known to ordinary civilians as Canary Wharf - was London's tallest building, and by far one of its most important.

Because Torchwood was a secret organisation who dealt with alien matters and had, over the past four years, prevented world invasions by Autons, Sycorax and Krillitaines, and they'd also sabotaged a plot to destroy the planet by the Slitheen.

Although each of the hundred or so different sections of Torchwood had pulled together and worked as a team to do this, most of the credit could be given to one person, and one person only.

Rose Tyler - Deputy Head of Torchwood, and Top Agent of the Earth Defence section.

She'd been able to provide details - very accurate and exact details - about who the alien leaders were, their customs and traditions, where they would be found, how they would try to attack or take over the planet, and most important of all, how to stop them. She'd been spot on 99.9 of the time, and the odd 0.1 when she'd been wrong, she'd simply confused the O and A in a very long and unpronouncable word that was apparently an insult to the Sycorax species, and had provoked them into revealing their hiding place once she'd realised her mistake and swapped the letters around.

No one knew how she knew so much - well no one except her family - and if they were honest, no-one really cared. Because while Rose knew all this unusual and apparently vital alien information, the planet remained safe.

So everytime something alien was reported, it was written up in a file and left on Rose's desk for her to read. Normally this wouldn't have caused a problem, because as a request from the Head of Torchwood - her father Pete - she would divert all the minor cases to him so that he could read them and learn more about alien life that way - or so he claimed. Minor cases usually involved hoax calls, false alarms and mistaken identities, which Torchwood got a lot of, considering they were meant to be secret and no-one was meant to know about them. It didn't bother Rose, because she wasn't the one who had to write or read the file, but she understood why it frustrated the other agents, and wherever possible, she'd try to get them out of having to write up a report, which they were very grateful for.

The more important cases, Rose kept for herself, such as an alien artefact being found in the Thames, or strange signals coming from the moon etc. There were considerably less of these types of reports, freeing up most of her time and allowing her to do more of the practical work that was involved in her job description, such as visiting the scene of the incident, examining the alien artefacts and giving advice to the staff on how to deal with this or that safely.

Tonight, however was different, and certainly not a night Rose would forget in a hurry. Rose and her family (her parents Jackie and Pete, her brother Jack and his twin sister Suki, and her adopted brother Mickey) had been on a 2 week break in the Caribbean, and had only just returned, meaning that the files had mounted up on her desk while she was away. Now she was back, they were all demanding her attention - the vibrant red cases screaming at her to notice them - and with her father away on business in Paris, she had no-one to divert the minor cases to.

After a very tiring day as Acting Head of Torchwood, answering important calls, driving all over the city to examine locations, and writing up reports of her own, Rose had finally found time to read the reports.

So here she was now, at 2am, up in her office, ploughing tediously through each file and wondering if her life could get any less interesting. Her eyes hurt from all the reading that she'd done already, and her head was pounding, telling her to stop and go home before she drove herself mad with boredom. But Rose continued reading the reports anyway, knowing that there would only be more for her to read tomorrow if she didn't get ontop of things tonight. And she didn't intend to stay late at work every night.

She did want some time to herself. Some time to relax, or play games with the twins, or just watch a movie with Mickey. She would also have liked to have some time, now and then, to see her boyfriend Darren, Head of the Medical section. He could never be compared to the Doctor, and Rose knew that. But she could never see the Doctor again, and she knew that now. She'd moved on, because she knew thats what she had to do. So she'd met Darren, and they'd been seeing each other for a year now. But because of their jobs, neither really had that much time to see the other, and Rose certainly wasn't going to give up the only free time she had to read files, when she could be at the cinema with Darren. That was her reasoning for staying so late at work tonight, and she didn't care if people called her mad because she was the only one left. But just because this was her decision, it didn't mean she had to like it.

Everyone else - even the cleaners - had gone home hours ago, and Rose wished she could join them. The one thought she had on her mind right now, as she pulled another file towards her, was of her nice warm bed waiting for her in her nice cosy bedroom, in the mansion Pete owned that she'd sworn she'd never move out of.

oOo

Down on the ground outside the huge building, a solitary figure looked up at the only lit window, way up on one of the top floors. Cloaked in black, they were impossible to see against the imposing brickwork behind them, and so the night watchman prowling on the ground floor didn't see them. As he passed by with his torch swinging freely from one hand, the figure crouched down and pulled something from inside the cloak. A little metallic spider with a single red eye in the centre of its little disk like head. It had four legs that made soft clicking noises as it was set down on the ground, and as it made its way up the brickwork on the outside of the building, the cloaked figure shrunk back into the shadows and vanished.

The sabotage spider - for thats what it was - found a window that had been left open slightly, and silently slipped inside.

Up in her office, Rose threw the most recent file ontop of the pile and sighed, completely unaware of the danger she was now in.


	3. Disaster Strikes

**Author Note: Hey guys! I'm so glad you've liked what I've done so far, and I hope you'll continue to enjoy the rest of my story. Here's the next chapter, but I must first explain something to you all, which is very important, so if you're one of those people who likes to skip the author's notes, then DON'T!**

**When I wrote this chapter, I thought nothing of it...it was just an idea that I got down on paper...and idea that bloomed and became quite important to the plot. However, when my friend was checking it over for spelling mistakes (so if there are any, blame her!) she pointed out that this chapter could potentially offend some people because of recent worldwide events that have happened. In particular 9/11 and 7/7.**

**However, let me assure you that, while I can see her point, I meant no harm, or offence, and the thought didn't even cross my mind as I was writting. If, however, I do cause offence, I am very sorry. It was never meant, and I hope it won't put you off reading the rest of my story.**

**Ok, now that I've confused you all with that little bit of info, here's the next chapter. I hope you like it.**

**oOo**

Mickey Tyler woke suddenly, his senses immediately tuning in to his surroundings. Something was wrong, he knew instinctively, and he jumped up out of bed, his eyes darting wildly about the room in fear of another cyber invasion. Although the cyber threat had been dealt with years ago, he still had dreams of them appearing in people's homes, and would often wake up in the night, see a shadow in his room and mistake it for a Cyberman. His parents teased him, and Suki and Jack laughed at him, although they couldn't understand the reason why they were laughing, seeing as they were only four, and knew nothing about Cybermen. Only Rose understood. But she wasn't here now. She was fast asleep down in her room on the second floor.

He made one last check of every inch of his bedroom, even turning his light on to get a better look, just to make sure. But his room was quiet, with nothing out of place.

Something had woken him, but not something in here.

"Mickey? Mickey! For gods sakes get up! Mickey!" Jackie was yellig up the stairs, and just the tone of her voice told him it was an emergency. Visions of the twins being seriously ill or injured flashed into his mind, followed by similar images of something happening to Rose or Pete.

He ran to his door, not even bothering to grab a shirt, not even caring or noticing that he was only wearing boxers. Jackie was running up the stairs two at a time and met him on the landing.

"Where's Rose?" she cried when she reached him, grabbing his shoulders desperately.

"Isn't she home yet?" he replied, surprised.

"No. Please tell me she didn't stay at her office," Jackie asked, the fear evident in her voice.

"Yeah, she had all those files to catch up on. But she should have been home by now, there weren't that many."

Jackie whimpered and Mickey's blood ran cold. "What is it Mum? What's happened?"

"The tower..." she whimpered. "Torchwood Tower...it's collapsed! There was an explosion and it...it's gone, Mickey. Its all over the news!"

Jackie broke down then, collapsing to the floor in a hysterical sobbing wreck, and it was all Mickey could do to stop himself from joining her. He couldn't quite believe it, so he ran to his window and ripped open the blinds. Where Torchwood Tower had once stood, now there was nothing but a huge column of thick black smoke, rising steadily in the distance.

"Bloody hell..." he gasped, gripping the window sill to stop his legs from buckling. "Rose."

oOo

There followed three hours of fury and confusion down at the remains of Torchwood Tower. Three hours of tearing at fallen beams, of flinging aside twisted pieces of metal and broken bricks and shattered fragments of wood, of burnt hands and broken fingernails and skinned knuckles, of sudden flares of hope and the slowly growing weight of dispair.

The fire brigade had been summoned at once, and with some help from the driving rain that had started some time earlier, they now had the main fire under control. It seemed that an explosion had taken out one of the workshops near the ground floor and weakened the supports, causing the rest of the building to collapse.

Jackie was working in the heart of it, side by side with Mickey, and both scrabbled and clawed at the rubble furiously, despite the pain and exhaustion and danger - the ruins could still collapse further and trap them too.

A little after 7am, one of the firefighters near the top of the heap shouted and waved, then gave three short bursts on his whistle - the signal that he'd found something. It had been reported that only one person had been in the building at the time of its collapse, and Jackie and Mickey knew who it must be. They didn't wait.

Instead, they scrambled up over the rubble, shoving the firefighters aside - and then they saw her being helped out of the rubble, torn and bruised, but otherwise unhurt.

Mickey grabbed Rose's hand and she fell into him, exhausted and shocked. He wrapped a blanket round her, that he'd taken from one of the paramedics. Then she was trembling against him, huddled up in the blanket, and he and Jackie began to help her down towards the pavement and the anxious crowd. It seemed that half the city had come to the site to lend a hand.

"Where are the twins?" Rose muttered as she trembled and huddled closer to Mickey. She looked so feeble and vulnerable now, Mickey thought. Nothing like the brave leader he was used to seeing whenever there was an emergency. Usually Rose was on the ball, would know exactly what to do, and would be in charge without meaning to be. That was the Rose he knew. But this Rose...she was terrified. Shocked. Unsure.

Mind you, he would be too if a building had just collapsed on him, so he couldn't blame her. Let someone else take charge for once - Rose needed medical care, and she certainly wasn't in a fit state to do anything at the moment.

"They're safe at home with Sarah-Jane...Pete's journalist friend. You remember? Don't you worry about them now, though. They're fine," Jackie assured her as they continued downwards. The mound had to be at least fifty feet high, so it was quite a struggle getting up and down.

And then Rose tripped and fell as something moved under her feet. Her forehead cracked sharply on a metal beam and she lay unconscious at Mickey's feet. Then Jackie screamed as the whole mound began to shift and slide under their feet, scattering the crowds below.

"Landslide!" Mickey heard someone shout as he lost his balance and fell backwards. And then they were sliding - being carted downhill by the unstable mound.

Mickey made sure he kept a firm grip on both Rose and Jackie as they slid down at an alarming speed, so there was no danger of the trio being seperated, and he didn't dare let go until the mound had stopped moving. Then he sat up and turned to find Rose, who had been on his right.

She was unconscious and there was a large gash on her forehead, that was slowly oozing crimson blood. But he could see she was breathing, and when he found her wrist, just to double check, there was a strong pulse.

"Thank god," he sighed in relief, moping at the blood with his sleeve.

The paramedics had arrived by then, and he found himself being pulled away from her, much to his dismay. He was bundled into the back of an ambulance with Jackie, and soon lost sight of Rose in the sea of rescuers and journalists who had gathered round to either help, or try and get a good story for tomorrow's papers.

There was nothing more he could do for her now, but he knew that she was safe, and in good hands, so he wasn't worried...much.


	4. Aftermath

**Author Note: Ok, hope that last chapter hasn't put too many of you guys off reading, because that would be a real shame if it did, but then, I can't exactly force you to read this...unfortunately...lol. Anyways, here's the next chapter, and again, please forgive me if it doesn't make sense, or is a little far fetched, but then the way I see it is that this is a sci-fi story, and as Russell T Davies himself said 'anything can happen in science fiction'. So there! Lol.**

**Enjoy! **

**Oh and thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, I really appreciate it, and keep them reviews coming. Like this story? Don't like it? Let me know. Ta.**

**oOo**

12 hours later, Rose was discharged from hospital and told to take it easy for a day or two, until some of the swelling round her sprained ankle had reduced.

"You're one of the luckiest people I've ever met," the nurse had told her as they sorted out the paper work for the discharge, and Rose had to agree. How many other people could say they escaped the ruins of a collapsed building with nothing more than minor concussion, three butterfly stitches to her forehead, a few bruised ribs, a sprained ankle and other minor cuts and bruises. She should - according to the laws of physics - be dead, having been right outside the door of the workshop when it had exploded. But then, Rose always had been one to cheat death one way or another and break all the rules in the process, whether she intended to or not.

Mind you, Rose couldn't really decide whether she'd been lucky or not. After all, if she hadn't stayed to read the last file, that had been a completely pointless read anyway, she'd have been well clear of the tower when it came down. In that way, she'd been unlucky. But then, she'd been very lucky to escape.

She'd just peered in the workshop to check that it had all been shut down for the night, and was about to make her way along to the next one, when the explosion had ripped through the room, blasting the door off and sending burning flames towards her. The heat and force of the explosion had thrown her backwards into the steel lift doors, which had opened seconds later as the lift arrived on that floor. She'd managed to pull herself inside before passing out, and the lift had carried her unconscious body back up to the top floor, protecting her from the many floors that would otherwise have crushed her. It had also created a little enclosed space around her that had protected her from further harm until she'd been found.

So did that make her lucky, or unlucky?

Jackie seemed to think that she was extremely lucky, and wasn't going to let Rose forget about it in a hurry. Since Rose had got home, she'd been treated like a fragile ornament that would shatter at the slightest touch.

Rose didn't mind at first, because it meant that she got to relax - something she hadn't been able to do for ages...not even when they'd been in the Caribbean. She'd been too worried about work then. But now, she had no work left to worry about, because it had all been destroyed.

Jackie had waited on her daughter hand and foot, bringing her chocolates, mugs of tea, pain killers, hot water bottles and bags of peas, which Rose was a little confused about. After all, Jackie had said that the water bottle and peas were for the pain, but what was Rose supposed to use first? The peas to take the swelling away? Or the bottle to take the pain away? In the end she stuck the peas on her ankle and the hot water bottle behind her neck, and left them like that.

Then there had been the twins, dressed up in their little doctor and nurse uniforms, with their little plastic medical kits. She'd reluctantly allowed them to 'fix' her while she'd watched one of Mickey's DVD's, and after tapping her knee with a plastic hammer several times, shining a torch on her eyes and ears, bandaging her hand with tissues and telling her to take two smarties twice a day, Jack and Suki had gone off to doctor Scooti and Ood, their two kittens.

Then, just as Rose was starting to relax and really get into the film, Darren had turned up, showering her with flowers, more chocolates and pleanty of kisses. For a while the two had sat comfortably on the sofa together, watching the film. But Darren was constantly fussing over her, and in the end Rose had to feign a headache and go to bed early, just to escape. After all, she loved Darren to bits, but there was only so much she could take before it drove her mad. Darren had offered to stay over at the Manor, but Mickey had picked up on Rose's need for time alone and had somehow managed to convince Darren that it might not be such a good idea. Rose wanted to say thank you to Mickey, but couldn't for fear of blowing her cover and hurting Darren's feelings. After all, if he found out that she'd lied to him, it might destroy them forever.

So she just lay up on her bed, finally getting some rest after what had been a very eventful, not to mention unforgettable day for the Tyler household. Rose couldn't believe that only that morning, she'd been pulled from the ruins of the tower, and she still hadn't quite got over the shock yet. But lying on her bed in the dark gave her time to think about it all. Thinking everything through in her mind. And she was surprised at how little she could actually remember, considering it wasn't so long ago that it happened.

Ok, so she'd looked into the workshop seconds before the explosion, but then why hadn't she seen whatever had caused it? Surely there must have been something odd that she should have picked up on? And why wasn't her mind allowing her to remember anything?

"It's the stress," she muttered to herself. "I just need to relax. That's all. Relax and think things through logically when I can think a little straighter."

"You know, talking to yourself's the first sign of madness."

Rose almost fell off her bed in fright. "Bloody hell Mickey! Don't do that!" she cried as she recovered from the shock and recognized the speaker. From up above, she heard Jack gasp and then bellow "Mum! Rose swore!"

"Did not!" she yelled down to her Mum.

"Did too! You said bloody hell!" Jack argue back, coming out onto the upstairs landing to shout it out to her.

"Well so did you!" she countered.

"You made me!"

"I did not!"

"Did too!"

"Oh shut up! Or I'll feed Ood to Satan next door!" She shot back at him, then turned on Mickey, now satisfied that she'd finished her argument with Jack. "You could at least have given me some warning that you were there."

"Sorry," he replied and she scowled, spotting his cheeky grin.

"No your not."

"Yeah, well..." he shrugged and came into the room a little more. Rose shifted over on the bed to make room for him, and he came and sat in the now empty space beside her.

"So..." she said after a moment, trying to relieve the awkward silence that had crept over them, unnoticed.

"I just came to see how you were," he replied. "You weren't yourself down there, with Darren...I saw you trying to get rid of him..."

"Yeah thanks for that Mickey. I really appreciate it," she smiled gratefully, and he returned the smile, then turned serious again.

"I thought, maybe...you might need someone to talk to...you know...about anything of course, not just what happened today...it was just a thought." He was trying to sound casual, but he was babbling - talking to fast - and Rose knew that he was worried about her. She smiled again and took his hand in her own, sitting up so that they were at the same eye level.

"I'm fine, honest. But thanks for the offer."

It was clear that Mickey didn't believe her, but he didn't press the matter further, and decided to change the subject instead.

"So what were you trying to figure out earlier then?"

"I don't really know," she replied honestly, because the truth was, she hadn't a clue. What had she been trying to work out? Maybe she was a little more concussed than she'd first thought.

"Was it about what happened last night?" Mickey suggested and then she remembered.

"Yeah. I was trying to work out how the workshop exploded. After all, buildings don't just explode and collapse of their own accord." She sighed. "So what caused it, and why?"

"I dunno. But the press are saying that it was a faulty valve on one of the gas tanks. Allowed the thing to build up pressure until it couldn't handle it anymore. No one could have seen it coming, so there was nothing you'd have been able to do about it, even if you had spotted it when you looked in."

"I guess," Rose sighed again. She had a nagging feeling that that wasn't what had happened. For some reason, she felt like the explosion had been a planned attack.

"And has an official inquiry started yet? What do they say has..." she trailed off as a sudden thought struck her.

"What? What is it?" Mickey asked.

"The gas tank...it was sabotaged," she realised.

"Are you sure?" Mickey asked, not quite able to believe that that was the answer.

"Positive," Rose nodded. She looked right at him then with what he called her 'Doctor face', and he knew she was about to tell him some long, technical, complicated, scientific explanation about what had happened, like the Doctor used to do. So he forced himself to listen.

"When I looked into the room to check it before I left, I saw something odd under one of the gas tanks - a tiny red light...and a soft clicking noise as the light moved a little. Well at the time I was in a hurry to get home and thought nothing of it, but now that I think back...I remember seeing, or at least hearing something like them before...way in the future, when the Earth died. I hope its not them though, because if it is, we have major problems!"

Ok not as scientific as he'd thought then. But still pretty cryptic, just like the Doctor always was. He'd definately rubbed off on her more than she was willing to admit.

"So what do you think they were then?" he asked, but before Rose could answer, there was a knock on the door and Jackie came in, carrying a shoe box and a mug of tea, which she placed on the bedside table.

"Alright? Hope I'm not interuptin'," she grinned at the both of them, then the smile faded as she felt Rose's forehead. "How you feelin' love?"

"I'm fine, Mum. Honest," Rose sighed, not wanting to alarm her mother further by telling her that she did actually have a slight headache now, and wasn't faking it anymore. Then she spotted the shoe box and looked at her Mum curiously.

"Whats that?"

"What? Oh this?" Jackie asked, holding up the box. "I meant to give it to you earlier, only I forgot. Darren found it when he was helping them salvage some stuff from the site. Said I should give it to you, because it might be important. He'd never seen it before and was sure it wasn't part of the catalogued stock, so he asked me to give it to you to take a look at. Weird sort of thing. I've never seen it before. But then why would I? I work in a hairdressers, not with aliens...mind you I have my doubts about one or two of my regulars, and -"

"Mum," Rose interupted, and Jackie realised she'd been rambling again.

"Sorry love. Here you go," she appologised, handing Mickey the box. "I'll leave you to it then, shall I? Anything you want while I'm downstairs?"

"I think we'll be fine for the moment, Mum," Rose replied. "You go and put your feet up or something, yeah?"

"Ooh, that sounds like a good idea. I might just do that," Jackie said thoughtfully as she left. Rose rolled her eyes at Mickey, who stiffled a laugh and reached over to switch on the bedside light.

"So what were you saying?" he asked as he prized the top off the box.

"I was hoping that whatever I saw under that gas tank wasn't..." she saw the contents of the box and the colour visibly drained from her face. "...wasn't going to be _that._"

"What is it?" Mickey asked as he held the mangled, charred remains of the sabotage spider up infront of him, examining it curiously. Rose just stared at it in horror. Now she knew that things were bad. Very bad.

There was a tiny knock on the door, and Jack peered round, looking very upset and quite close to tears.

"Rosie?" he said quietly. "I'm sorry I was nasty. Please don't feed Ood to Satan?"

"Course I won't," she replied softly, holding her arms out in a inviting gesture. Jack ran to her and hugged her tightly, although he was still not quite convinced that Rose wouldn't feed his kitten to next door's dog. Something was troubling her, he knew, and by hugging her, he hoped that all the badness would disappear, like it did when he'd had a bad dream and she or Mummy hugged him.


	5. A parallel Doctor?

**Author Note: Hey guys, here's the next chapter for you. I know the beginning is dragging on a little, and not alot has happened so far, but I'm getting there. This is propably the last...or second to last boring chapter, and then we are introduced to something that causes Rose to completely flip...go mental...go crazy with anger...get madder than we've ever seen her get before. What is it? Well, I'm afraid you'll have to put up with this chapter first...and I wouldn't advise skipping this chapter either, because it is still quite important. If it wasn't I'de have saved you the trouble by leaving it out. Lol.**

**Ok, enough useless talk from me.**

**Enjoy! Oh and see that little purple button down at the bottom of the page in the left hand corner? Yeah, well press it. Go on...you know you want to! Plus I love hearing what you think about my stories anyway, so please? Please? Pretty please?**

**Ta!**

**oOo**

Rose and Mickey waited until the others had gone to bed, then waited half an hour extra, just to be sure, before slipping out of the house quietly.

Rose obviously wasn't very fast because of her ankle, but what she lacked in speed, she made up for in stealth, as she proved when she successfuly navigated the creaking floorboards. Mickey, on the other hand, wasn't as successful, and even cursed loudly when he stubbed his toe down in the pitch black hallway. After waiting silently for a few minutes to make sure they hadn't woken any of the others, the two slipped out of the front door and climbed into the battered jeep that belonged to Pete. Normally they would have taken Rose's car, but that had been lost under the debris, and Mickey's big yellow truck needed a new gearbox, so they had no choice really. Besides, Pete wasn't going to need it. He was in Paris.

Whilst Mickey drove, Rose pondered over all the reasons why a sabotage spider had destroyed Torchwood Tower. Why had it waited until the building was almost empty before attacking? But then, why was she complaning that it had?

Something was telling her that it could have just been a warning...or maybe even a mistake. But almost as soon as this thought crossed her mind, she firmly dismissed it, deciding that, no, it definately wasn't a mistake. That spider hadn't got in somehow, conveniently found an unlocked workshop with a gas tank in, then spontaneously combusted underneath it. That would have been just too much of a coincidence.

Someone had sent that spider to do something in the tower, whether they meant for it to explode or not. But who would have access to that kind of technology? How? And more importantly, why send it to Torchwood Tower? She could only think of one person who used those spiders, but she wouldn't be around for five billions years yet, so what the hell was going on?

Of course, there was always another reason that was playing on Rose's mind. One that she couldn't ignore. One that told her she'd been the target. That could have explained the reason why they'd waited until she was alone before attacking. But again, who would do that? And why?

In the end, it all came back to the spider, and if Rose was to find out what was going on, she firstly needed to find out how the spider got here. Because technically, it wouldn't be invented for billions of years yet, so that told her that someone was messing with time. And she'd had pleanty of experience with time herself, so she knew the dangers of messing with time more than most people, and whoever it was needed stopping before they completely re-wrote history, either accidentally, or on purpose.

"Rose? You ok?" Mickey asked suddenly. She'd been so lost in her thoughts that she'd completely forgotten where she was, or who she was with.

"Yeah," she replied, shaking her head, as though that would dislodge the thoughts from her mind. But it didn't. "No...I don't know Mickey."

"What's wrong?" he asked, turning to look at her while they waited at a set of traffic lights.

"Its this whole situation. Its hard to explain."

"Try me," Mickey replied gently, so as they continued on their way, Rose told him everything. All her fears, worries and concerns about everything. He listened quietly, and when she'd finished, he sniffed - a habit he'd picked up since being in this universe - and then started to say something, stopped, then started again.

"I could be completely wrong, yeah? So don't get your hopes up. But what if...what if there was a parallel Doctor? Coz, I mean, there was a parallel me, wasn't there...and a sort of parallel you - "

"Don't remind me!" Rose exclaimed, remembering the little Yorkshire Terrier that had been the parallel Rose Tyler. It had run away a few years ago, and if Rose was honest, she was glad to see the back of the little yappy fur ball that used to bark everytime someone said her name.

And then she thought about what Mickey had just said. It was possible, she supposed. Everyone she'd known from her Earth had had a parallel version, some way or another. Whether it was a lookalike with a different name, like Mickey and Rickey, or an animal with the same name, like her and Rose the dog, or even a lookalike with the same name, like her parents Pete and Jackie. So somewhere out there, there could be a parallel Doctor too.

"But why would he attack Torchwood Tower if he knows I work there?" she wondered, and Mickey rolled his eyes.

"You're forgetting that the parallel version wouldn't know you. And remember what you said about the other Torchwood? Queen Victoria set it up against you and the Doctor. What's to say this Torchwood wasn't created against the Doctor too? Surely then he'd want revenge?"

Rose smiled at Mickey, rather proud of the way her 'brother' picked things up alot faster these days, since his travels with her and the Doctor. Gone were the days when he let her do all the work and just followed her like a lost sheep. Now he was thinking for himself and coming up with ideas too. But as always, she had an argument against everything he said.

"The Doctor isn't one to take revenge. He's not like that."

"_Your _Doctor isn't like that. This one could be completely different. Remember me and Rickey? We couldn't be more different if we tried, yet we were still the same guy...sort of..."

He had a point, and Rose sighed, not actually able to create a counter argument this time. "I suppose," she agreed at last. "So that now gives us three options. One, this whole thing was just a warning from some time traveller who's ended up here by accident. Two, I was the target by same said time traveller. Or three, it was the Doctor."

"Yeah...I don't like the sound of any of them," Mickey added, and Rose nodded. "Although, one is definately the better option at the moment."

"Yeah, I like option one too," Rose grinned. "Its the least painful to think about."

But any more thoughts on the matter were forgotten as Mickey rounded a corner and Rose saw what was left of Torchwood Tower.

Not alot.

"Dad's not gonna be too happy about that," she cringed as she saw the huge mountain of rubble that was still smoking despite the fact that all the fires were now extinguished. "Has anyone tried to salvage anything yet?"

"Darren and a few of the others have, but there's not alot that could be saved," Mickey replied as he parked and they climbed out. Rose pulled a torch from under the seat and made sure she had her ID in her jacket, just incase anyone wondered what they were doing, clambering over the debris at 11:30pm. Then she and Mickey ducked under the police tape surrounding the area and started up the mound, their torches dancing over the bits of wood and concrete, metal and paper.


	6. A frighteningly familiar scenario

**Author Note: Hmmm...seems my story's not as popular as I had hoped...either that or you're all being lazy and can't be bothered to review...can't say I blame you. Reviews are so tedious to write, and yet fantastic to read. So please...please...please? Can you review, for me? Please? Pwetty pwease with cherries, chocolate sprinkles and ice cream on top? Come on, how can you refuse that? And just incase you can (BIG PUPPY DOG EYES) Please?**

**Oh yeah, and sorry I haven't updated for ages...been really busy...sorry...**

**Enjoy!**

oOo

A little while later, Rose was on top of the pile, sweeping it with a lazy arc of her torch. She really wasn't in the mood anymore, and just wanted her nice warm bed. Her headache had gradually worsened and now her ankle was hurting too. However, she wasn't one to make a fuss, and seeing as Mickey seemed to be indulged in some interesting conversation with one of his fellow agents from the mechanics section, who'd turned up about half an hour ago, she wasn't going to go and make one now by asking to go home. So she continued her search up on top, where she reckoned that most of her stuff, or her father's stuff would be, seeing as it had been in the top of the tower.

By sweeping the beam of her torch infront of her, she was hoping that something would just jump out at land infront of her, but she knew that unless she could actually be bothered to rummage and look properly, nothing would.

Well, that is until a light breeze picked up a few loose papers and dumped them on her feet. Rose frowned and picked them up, leafing through them, holding her torch between her teeth, so that she had both hands free to sort out the mess of papers. Several were just torn or burnt files and reports, but one caught her attention and she began to read it properly.

_Dear Mr Tyler,_

_Re: Torchwood and an unusual artefact I have aquired._

_I know that Torchwood is meant to be a secret organisation, and may I first commend you on how well you've kept it hidden from the world. But I found out about you via a kid I've employed called Adam Mitchell. He's a genious and he hacked into your accounts for me. I hope you don't mind. After all, I do own the internet, so whatever's on it rightfully belongs to me._

_Anyway, that is how I found out about you, and your daughter Rose Tyler. May I also commend you for having such a beautiful young woman to call your own. You are indeed a very lucky man._

_But this is not why I'm writting to you. I am writing to you, because as you know, I am a collector, and I have recently aquired a rather peculiar artefact that I was wondering if you might possibly be able to come and identify for me. For the moment, I have named it Metaltron, but I would really like to know its full and proper name. Feel free to drop by anytime you like. I'll inform my staff of your arrival sometime in the near future, and also feel free to bring your daughter too. I would very much like to meet the legendary Rose Tyler. After all, her name is the only thing the Metaltron will responde to. It doesn't say anything. Just, sort of growls...or squeeks. Its a most peculiar thing, as I have already said. _

_Well, I hope you will be able to come and visit, when you are not too busy. You can see my other artefacts then, and perhaps tell me their proper names too. I look forward to meeting you soon._

_Yours Sincerely_

And then it was signed, but the name had been burnt, along with the address at the top, which Rose found most annoying. She could just make out a few of the letters.

H...Va...Sta...n

Her blood ran cold as she realised who the letter was from. Only one man she knew collected aliens, had one called a Metaltron, had an employee called Adam and had those letters in his name. Henry Van Statten.

"Oh god," she gasped as she also realised what it was that he wanted them to go and see. A Dalek.

"Dad, please tell me you didn't agree to go," she muttered, folding the letter and shoving it in her pocket. Then she started back down the pile, calling urgently to Mickey. He looked up, along with Stuart...or was it Steven? Rose couldn't remember.

She increased her speed, dropped into a slight dip in the mound and lost sight of them for a minute as she started to climb back out, and then continued on her way.

She soon saw them again and started making a beeline towards the large piece of wood they'd balanced themselves on, when she suddenly felt her stomach drop and found herself looking up at the pitch black sky. In a daze, her muddled mind tried to figure out _why _exactly she was lying on the floor. And then the whole pile started to shift again, and she found herself being carried downhill, conveniently coming to a stop at Mickey's feet.

Groaning, she slowly picked herself up until she was sitting, cross-legged, and looked up at him, an embarrased and also rather confused expression on her face.

"Well, that was one way of getting down to us," Mickey grinned as he extended a hand. Steven - or was it Stuart? - also held out his hand, and between them, they hauled her back to her feet.

"You ok?" Mickey asked as Rose brushed herself down and examined a rip in the sleeve of her jacket. It was her favourite jacket...one she'd worn the last time she'd seen the Doctor. One that she'd hoped would last forever. But again, this just served as another cruel reminder that nothing ever lasted forever, no matter how hard you hoped it would.

"Are you alright?" Mickey asked again when he received no answer.

"Yeah," Rose nodded, locking away her thoughts of the Doctor before they took over again. Then she frowned and changed her mind. "No...oh...I mean...I dunno, Mickey." She shrugged helplessly.

"Well, are you hurt?" he asked gently and she shook her head. "Good. So what's the matter then?"

Rose opened her mouth and closed it again several times, not quite sure where to begin. Then she pulled out the letter and handed it to him. As he started reading, Rose had the guilty feeling that Stuart...yeah it was definately Stuart...might be feeling a little left out, and seeing as she was still unsure of his name (because now she had this nagging voice in her head telling her that it was Steven) she decided that now was as good a time as any to find out.

"Hi...Stuart, is it? Or was it Steven?"

"Actually its Oliver, Miss Tyler," he replied politely, shaking her hand. Rose blushed in embarassement and silently scolded herself.

_That wasn't even close! Where the hell did I get the idea that his name began with an S?_

Then a thought struck her, that might at least preserve some of her dignity. "Do you have a twin, Oliver?"

"Yeah, I do. He's called Greg."

"Right," Rose nodded. _Again, not even close! _

"So, Miss Tyler. Are you feeling better now?" Oliver asked, breaking the suddenly awkward silence that had fallen over them.

"Yes, thanks Oli...can I call you Oli?" He nodded, so she continued. "And please, call me Rose. Everyone else does."

"Of course, Miss Ty- Rose," he quickly corrected. "And I'm glad you're alright. I saw them dragging you out this morning and if I'm honest, Miss, I thought you were going to be a lot worse."

"So did I," Rose nodded in agreement, wincing a little as her foot twinged, but whether Oli missed it, or saw and decided to ignore it, she didn't know, because he showed no reaction to it at all, which she was grateful for. And anyway, he had something far more important that needed to be said.

"Miss Ty- Rose? When I tried to get up to help you, these two guys appeared and told me that it would be better if I kept away, because something weird was going on."

"Did they? Go on," Rose encouraged, suddenly all ears. "Who were they?"

"I've no idea. They had Torchwood passes, but I've never seen them before. And there was something...odd about them, although I couldn't say what. They looked, and dressed the same as us...but they seemed...I don't know. Sort of...out of place."

"Did they say what was going on? Or anything else at all?"

"Not really. But they did mention something about Ood and Scooti. How would they know about Jack and Suki's kittens?"

"How do _you_ know about them?" Rose countered, although not in an unkind or threatening way.

"Your brother told me all about them," Oli shrugged, and Rose frowned.

"When did you meet my brother?"

"When he wandered off and I bumped into him, somewhere down in the medical department. I showed him the way back to your Dad and on the way he told me all about Ood, Scooti and Satan. You have really weird names for your pets, you know!"

"Satan's not ours. He's next door's doberman, but Jack likes to pretend he's ours," Rose grinned. "But, hang on...when did Jack get lost here? I don't remember him ever coming to visit."

"Your Dad had to pick him and Suki up from school one day, because you were lost in Madame Tussaudes."

"I was not lost! I was tracking down a shape shifting alien!" Rose protested petulantly.

"You were gone five hours!"

"Thats because it took me ages to find the damned thing! I couldn't tell what were models and what weren't!" Rose huffed, and Oli looked at her with raised eyebrows, before he burst out laughing. At first Rose couldn't see what was so funny. But then she did begin to see the funny side, and soon found herself laughing along with him.

But this moment was cut short when Mickey turned back to them, having finished the letter.

"This is from that guy, isn't it. Henry whats-his-face?"

"Van Statten," Rose nodded.

"And he's the one who had that...thing?"

"The Dalek, yeah."

"The Dalek that the Doctor locked you down in the basement with?"

"Mickey, how much more confirmation do you need?" Rose teased. "Yes. That's the one. The Dalek that the Doctor locked me down in a basement with. The Dalek that couldn't kill me because it had absorbed my time-travelling-backround-radiation-filled DNA and was therefore slowly mutating, which is the worst thing that could ever happen to a Dalek...unless they happen to run into the Bad Wolf or the Doctor...but yes..._The _Dalek." She paused for breath and looked to see Mickey's rather comical reaction.

"Oh...right," Mickey nodded, blushing sheepishly, but trying to hide this fact with a fake yawn that only made him look even more stupid. Rose kindly held back a snigger and turned to Oli instead.

"Am I meant to understand any of this?" Oli asked, bewildered, as he looked from Rose to her brother, then back again.

"Did Mickey ever tell you about a guy called 'The Doctor'?" Rose asked. Oli wracked his brains for a moment, then shook his head. "Well in that case, no. You aren't supposed to know." She patted him sympathetically on the shoulder, and gave him a warm smile. "Remind me to tell you about it some time...when all this mess is cleared up. Yeah?"

Oli nodded, feeling a little better, and Rose pulled out her mobile.

"Mickey, I need to ring Dad, try and warn him not to go to Van Statten's place. Can you try and get us flights to Utah for the morning...I don't care how we get there...we just need to get there no later than tomorrow afternoon. Ok?" Mickey nodded in understanding, knowing that Rose was trusting him with something very important. He loved it when Rose trusted him like that, and he hated letting her down. So he made his way back to the jeep, where he'd stowed his laptop in the back, and Rose turned to Oli.

"Oli, you remember those people you were telling me about? Can your try and find them? Send them to my place and tell them to wait for me there. I'll warn Mum to expect guests. Can you do that for me?"

"Of course Rose. Anything for you," Oli nodded, then made his way down the slope towards his own car. Rose stood baffled for a moment. What had he meant by that?

Shrugging it off as a comment that had no meaning, she rejoined Mickey at the jeep, and seeing as he was now hard at work on the internet, she had to drive.

"Hold on tight," she muttered, knowing how badly she drove the battered old jeep. Then she winced as Mickey's head collided with the window and he cursed loudly. The rest of the journey home wasn't exactly a pleasant one, and Rose was glad when she finally pulled into the drive. The sooner she got her own car back, the better.


	7. The Two Tyler Tearaway Juniors

**Author Note: Hey guys, sorry for the delay in posting, I'm really bad at that, aren't I! Oops. Oh well, here's the next chapter, and its an extra long one, just to make up for the lack in regular posting that I promised. Hope you like it. Oh, and I didn't have a chance to proof read until now, but even when I do proof read, I still miss stuff, so please, if you see a mistake...let me know! Constructive critisism is ALWAYS welcome. After all, we learn from our mistakes, but how can we learn if no one points these mistakes out to us?**

**Enjoy!**

**oOo**

The economy class of the flight was tiny and crowded, with limited room; nothing at all like the light, airy expanse of the TARDIS with its billions of rooms that Rose had come to call her home so long ago.

_But this is what travel is gonna be like for me from now on. No short cuts, _she told herself. _No ability to jump forwards or backwards - or even sideways - in time. Not even any way to leave the planet any more, to see all those wonderful sights that no other human has ever seen before...I can't even visit a space station! Its all impossible now...and is it even possible that I could feel trapped on something as big as the Earth? Because I do._

And then she was thinking about the TARDIS and the Doctor. Wondering what they got up to these days without her. Wondering if the Doctor had found yet another companion to replace her, or if he'd remained alone this time.

She smiled at some of her favourite memories that she'd shared with the Doctor, and then sighed sadly. That was her old life. A life that died on the beach and would never return, no matter how much she wanted it to. She'd accepted the fact, but just because she'd accepted it, didn't mean she had to like it.

Giving herself a little shake to dislodge the memories before they caused her too much pain, she turned to study the faces around her. Some seemed tired and worn - in need of a vacation? - while some looked refreshed, bursting with energy and happiness - like they were returning from one instead?

Beside her, Mickey shifted in his sleep once again. He had been tossing and turning ever since he'd curled up against the window. Rose was just wondering if this was normal for him now, when she heard him mutter "No," and then "No! Rose, no!"

She leaned carefully towards him and saw that he was sweating. Whatever he was dreaming about was clearly upsetting him. Gently, she laid a hand on his arm, hoping she wouldn't have to shake him awake. But what she'd forgotten was that these days, Mickey was a light sleeper. He'd needed to be during the days when Cybermen could attack your home at any minute, and he apparently hadn't grown out of the habit, even though there was no threat from them any more.

His eyes opened and he looked at her in evident confusion. "What?"

"You seemed to be having a nightmare and I was just checking that you were alright," she told him.

"I'm fine," he nodded, pulling himself into a more comfortable postion and stretching as much as the limited room would allow him.

"Are you hungry?" she asked as the refreshments trolley arrived. Mickey nodded again, so Rose handed him a bowl of what looked like porridge, along with a lump of bread, took the same for herself and thanked the steward.

"We'll be there soon. The Captain said no more than half an hour now," she told him neutrally as they ate. If he didn't want to talk about his nightmare, she wouldn't force him too. Besides, it had clearly involved her in some way, so did she really _want _to know what it had been about?

"How long was I asleep?" he asked as he tucked into the meal.

"A couple of hours. You fell asleep before the in-flight movie."

"What was it?"

"I dunno. Never seen it before."

"Any good?"

"Nope."

Mickey grinned at her honesty, then turned to look out of the window as the clouds passed by.

"Rose?" he asked absently, as he stared out of the window.

"Yeah?"

"My dream, earlier...it was about you. And those Daleks from that Cult of Whatsit..."

"Skaro."

"Yeah. Well, it was like watching the events of that day happening again...only this time, I was looking over my own shoulder, like I was viewing from someone else's point of view...which is how I knew it was only a dream...and...well the Daleks...that black one actually...it killed you. You died infront of me, and I did nothing to help. I just stood there and watched."

There was a shocked silence for a moment as Rose took in everything he'd said, and then she asked quietly "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I...I'm worried that it wasn't just a dream. What if it was a message too?"

"Saying what?" she asked, concerned now - and a little afraid. It wasn't often that Mickey had bad dreams, but when he did, they usually hinted at something that was going to happen. Like he'd dreamt about a building collapsing, hours before Torchwood Tower had.

"Saying that one day, something's gonna happen to you...ok, maybe not death, but something...and I won't be able to help."

"Don't be stupid," she tried to reassure him...only she didn't exactly sound very reassured herself. _"_I'm fine. I always will be. Trust me."

_If only I could trust _myself _to believe that too._

Because he was right. She had that same feeling...niggling at the back of her mind...telling her that some day, not so far in the future, something was going to happen...something that was going to change her life forever.

She sighed, looking for a way to change the subject.

"So...how are things with you and Gemma?"

Mickey shrugged and looked away out of the window again, avoiding her gaze. Rose frowned, suddenly understanding exactly what he wasn't telling her.

"Don't tell me you've broken up with her already?"

"Well...only because she was rude about you," he said defensively.

"Oh? What did she say?"

"Do you really want to know?"

Rose rolled her eyes in mock frustration. "No, I don't really want to know at all. I just asked for the sake of it," she replied sarcastically.

Mickey shrugged. "Ok, she wanted to know how a girl no-one has ever heard of before, who wears a key that fits no lock and has a broken cell phone in her pocket, can become the Deputy Head of Torchwood, and Head of Earth Defence over everyone else, who have been working hard for years to earn those titles."

"That wasn't too rude," Rose replied thoughtfully, pulling the TARDIS key from round her neck and stroking the smooth, cold metal with her thumb. The TARDIS key and her phone were the only links to the Doctor's magical world now, aside from the psychic paper, and although they were actually of no use to her now (her phone had broken some time ago and was now useless) she kept them with her at all times, just as a sort of comfort.

"Oi!" Mickey exclaimed, whacking her shoulder a little harder than he'd intended.

"Ow! What?"

"I haven't even finished yet and you're off day-dreaming about the Doctor! Talk about rude!"

"Was it really that obvious?" Rose asked sheepishly, massaging her now throbbing shoulder.

"Yeah, your mouth was hanging open and everything!"

"Shut up!" Rose exclaimed, whacking his shoulder in retaliation. "There, now we're even. Carry on."

"Well, anyways. I told her as much as I could about you...obviously not the other universe part, but the rest of it...that you're an experienced time traveller, blah blah blah, and do you know what she called you?"

"Haven't the foggiest."

"A fruit loop! A crazy, insane, in need of a nut-house, fruitloop! And she even said you make half the stuff up just to gain respect and please the media."

Again there was a shocked silence for a moment, and then Rose exploded...almost literally. Her cheeks flushed red in anger and her eyes narrowed to mere slits.

"How dare she! How bloody dare she! Doesn't she know what the hell I've been through these past few years? Doesn't she realise that I risked my life every single bloody day just to gain all that knowledge that is now, ironically, saving this bloody universe that I don't even belong to, and should therefore not be wasting my time in saving?! Oh my god! The bloody - "

The jerk of the plane landing cut Rose off before her insult could finish, and Mickey was quite relieved. There were young children on board, and he had a feeling the description could have been quite...colourful, had it been allowed to continue.

As it was, Rose slumped down in her seat and began sulking. She liked to do that alot these days...sulk. She'd changed so much since that day on the beach...and it was like the Doctor had stolen the real Rose and dumped them with a completely different, sarcastic, sulky, moody double. At work, Rose was a people pleaser, only because it got the job done. But in reality she was just a cold hearted...bitch. He couldn't think of any other way to describe her these days. If she didn't like you, she didn't like you, and she'd make sure you knew it.

But then, underneath all the coldness, she was just as vulnerable, just as scared, just as...curious as she'd always been. She was still the same on the inside...just not the outside, so to speak.

"Ok, now you're staring," Rose's much calmer voice interupted now, and Mickey was still amazed at her lightning quick mood changes. She really was more like the Doctor than she'd ever admit.

"Come on," he sighed, taking her hand. "Lets get off this plane before you do something else to suprise me...not that that's a hard task to accomplish these days."

"Is that an insult?" she asked suspiciously, but he just grinned.

oOo

Henry Van Statten was still as pompous and arrogant as Rose had remembered him, and after a good hour or two listening to him drawl on about how he was the owner of the internet and the best alien collector in the world, she was getting quite sick of his voice.

"Don't you ever shut up?" she snapped when he told her and Mickey for the fifth time that he had the largest alien collection in the universe.

"Rose!" Mickey hissed but she simply ignored him and turned up her glare on Van Statten, who actually started to cower away, sinking a little lower into his chair.

"No, really. Is this how you treat all your guests?" she continued angrily.

"To be fair, we didn't exactly announce our arrival in advance, did we," Mickey replied.

"Thats not the point. Whether they were expecting us or not, does not mean we have to sit and listen to him going on and on for hours on end, when all we came to do was identify one of his newest arrivals. I've got better things to do with my time than listen to him claiming to own the internet!"

"What is up with you today?!" Mickey argued, matching her in anger now.

"Nothing!"

"Yes there is! Something's bugging you. You've been in a foul mood all day!"

"Look, I'm fine. Just drop it, alright."

"No. Tell me."

"Not now," Rose snapped, making a point of looking at Van Statten, who was slowly re-appearing now that Rose's anger had been diverted away from him. Mickey knew something was bothering Rose then, because she'd as good as said that she'd tell him, just not infront of Van Statten. That meant it must be a domestic thing then. Hopefully nothing he'd done. Realising that the subject needed changing, Mickey looked back to Van Statten.

"So, you sent a letter to Mister Tyler about a new artefact called a Metaltron or something?"

"Thats right. But I was hoping Mr Tyler would be here to identify it for me. Not the two tearaway Tyler Juniors, one of whom looks like she's been in a fight recently."

"A fight for my life," Rose corrected angrily.

"Against what? Someone's fists?" Van Statten asked sarcastically as he reclined back in his leather chair and studied the pair sat infront of him.

"Against 70 tonnes of falling building, actually!" _Ok, maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration, but who knows how much a building weighs anyway?_

"Ah, the whole Torchwood Tower incident," Van Statten nodded knowingly. "Shame about that. Such a pretty building. Have you found out what caused it yet?"

"Not yet, but we're looking into it," Rose replied, forcing herself to stay calm and not rise to his bait. After all, he was doing his best to annoy her, she could tell. And she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction.

"Good. Good. At least you're not sitting on your backsides all day letting the...what do you call them? Plod?...do all your dirty work for you. Or is that why you call them filfth?"

"We don't."

"But in all those movies!"

"Yeah, well. You can't always trust everything you see on the big screen."

"Can't you?"

"No," Rose said curtly.

"Shame. I quite like some of the things I see." He raised his eyebrows in a suggestive manner and Rose scowled in disgust. Beside her, Mickey clenched his fists together so hard that his knuckles turned white. Van Statten saw this and decided that it was time to change the subject.

"So, you came to identify my pet, huh?"

"There's no reason in this universe why we'de be sitting here listening to your delusions of grandeur otherwise."

"Ooh, catty! Is she always this witty? Or does she reserve it for those she's afraid of?" Van Statten questioned Mickey, but Rose spoke before Mickey.

"Why should I be afraid of you?"

"Because I have something you don't? Something that I could unleash upon the world and destroy humanity in the blink of an eye?"

"Your pet?"

"Bingo. Wanna see it?"

And with a hugely smug smile, Van Statten rose and headed for the door. Mickey and Rose paused long enough to give each other warning glances and then followed as he led them down through the bunker to the vault below.

oOo

The vault was just as Rose had remembered it, with its huge steel door and billion combination door lock. As Van Statten stepped up to the door and started to key in the code, Rose suddenly felt the fear flooding through her. She was about to go into a room, completely unarmed, against a Dalek, and because she was expecting it this time, it made it a hundred times worse. It meant that this time, she had a chance to think about everything that could happen...every possibility...every outcome.

Her heart was hammering so loudly in her chest that she was surprised the whole of Utah couldn't hear it. But then, looking at the armed guards flanking the door, who were giving her funny looks, she realised that probably they could. She was debating wether to ask one of them if she could borrow their gun, but then the logical part of her mind pointed out that bullets usually didn't stop Daleks and the best she could do would be to blind it. That was if she ever worked out how to use the gun in the first place. Give her a laser gun, or something from the future, and she was fine. Give her a present day gun and she was lost.

_Probably not a good idea then. Damn!_

"Well go ahead, Miss Tyler. Impress me," Van Statten said from across the room, waving an arm grandly at the open doorway.

"Wish me luck," she muttered to Mickey as she started boldly for the door. Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the blackness and heard a soft hiss as the door closed behind her.

_Oh great. I can't see a bloody thing. Now what?_


	8. The Metaltron

**Author Note: Sorry guys, no Adam this chapter. I know a few of you have asked me if he's making an appearance, but not yet. Although, don't despair. Young Mr Mitchell will almost certainly be cropping up in the near future, although I can't really decide yet, so don't put all your hopes on it. **

**Anyways, another update so soon? I can't actually believe it myself, but there we go, its done and dusted, and I'm not complaning. Just a little note. The..._thing _in this chapter (could be a Dalek, could be something else. I'm not gonna spoil it for you) may bot actually be correct - as in, its speach may not be true to its screen companions, but I have studied it for as long as possible, and I've tried to get it as correct as I can, whilst making it still fit to the story, so please forgive me if it is out of character. My appologies also go out to its family, if I have given them a bad name. After all, I'm sure not all of them can be that bad...can they?**

**Oh well. Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!**

**oOo**

There were no lights in the room - nothing that allowed her to see what was down at the other end. But any second now, two lights would flash in unison with one very terrifying word, she was sure.

And as she looked into the darkness now, she was sure she could see the blue lights of that eye stalk, following her wherever she went. Blinking, she peered even harder into the dark, but the light had gone. Had she imagined it? There was only one way to find out.

"Alright. Show yourself. I know you're there, so there's no use hiding anymore." She was fighting hard to make her voice sound normal, despite the fact that she was almost a quivering wreck.

It took a few moments for the lights to flicker on, starting at her end and working their way down.

_Any second now..._

But then the last light in the room flickered into existence and Rose gasped.

"What?...But!...How?...What?!" she stuttered, her brain too stunned to come up with anything more complex - those few words still pretty much summing up all she was struggling to comprehend right now.

"You're not a Dalek!" she cried, almost accusingly, as she stepped forwards.

"No," came the flat, monotone reply. And then Rose was laughing. Laughing with relief and joy. The pure white face, with the hollow eyes surrounded by gold patterning and the permanent smile just turned to her, as though wondering what was so funny.

"Oh this is brilliant! You're not a Dalek! Your just one of those clockwork repair droids, aren't you! Searching for that French woman...Madame De Pompadour?"

"Correct."

"Well you won't find her here, my friend. You're well out on the location...even further out on the date," Rose said, now face to face with the droid. She could hear the steady clicks and ticks of the mechanics within and reached out a hand to its masked face. In one fluid motion, she jerked the mask and wig off, to reveal the glass dome and gold mechanisms underneath.

"The Doctor was right. You are beautiful," she sighed as the ticking dome turned towards her again. Then her expression hardened. "But you can't stay here. Go home, or I'll have to destroy you."

"That is impossible."

"Want a bet?" Rose retorted, picking up a screwdriver off a nearby workbench and dangling it infront of the droid. "Now go home."

"That is impossible," it repeated.

"Why?"

"Access to the ship was destroyed."

"How?"

"I fell through a time window. Access to the ship was destroyed."

"You _**fell** _through a time window? Blimey, the Doctor was right about you being thick too," Rose muttered. And then she glanced at one of the droid's chained wrists. It was smashed to bits and wires hung out all over the place.

"What happened to your teleport? Was it destroyed when you fell?"

"Correct."

"So you're trapped here?"

"Correct."

"Oh." Rose couldn't think of anything else to say. Was it a good thing that it was stranded here in Utah, away from its intended target? It would certainly be good news for Madame De Pompadour, but then Rose had never liked her much...she was rude, AND she'd stolen the Doctor.

_No...not now. _She scolded herself. _Focus on here and now. You can dwell in the past later._

So maybe it was a good thing that it was stranded. But then, Rose couldn't help feel sorry for it. It was trapped miles from home, and she knew just how painful that feeling was. She was living with that pain everyday.

"Send me home?" the droid asked, and although it's voice was monotone and emotionless, Rose was sure she could hear the helplessness in its voice.

"I can't," she replied quietly. "I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do. If there was I'd do it. But there isn't," she appologised.

And then she paused and frowned.

"Wait. Why the hell am I _appologising _to you?! You lot drugged me and almost turned me into spare parts for your ship! And then you start messing with time, opening windows left, right and centre!...Hold on...**_windows_**...Of course!" Another thought had struck her. "I bet that's how the spider came to end up billions of years out of its time! You opened up a time window in the year five billion, didn't you?"

"Correct."

"And a door, once opened, can be used from either way! Why didn't I think of it before? Oh god! That means the whole time line's been screwed right up, thanks to you! How many more have escaped from their time periods and ended up somewhere else, I wonder?"

This time the droid didn't reply, and as Rose peered closer, she could see the mechanisms slowing down.

"What are you doing?" she cried.

"Access to the ship is destroyed. I serve no purpose anymore."

"Oh no you don't!" she cried angrily, bashing the domed head. "Not until you tell me where the time window is that you crashed through! Tell me!"

"Systems shutting down," the droid groaned and wheezed as it slumped forwards. And then the ticking stopped and everything was silent.

"No!" Rose yelled, kicking the nearby workbench in anger and frustration. Then, for good measure, she threw the screwdriver across the room too, narrowly avoiding Van Statten as he charged in, accompanied by the guards, who were shouting at her to move away from the Metaltron. She'd just discovered a major clue, and couldn't follow it up, because she had no idea where to start looking for the time window.

She was so busy cursing and ranting at the droid that she didn't notice Van Statten cursing and ranting at _her, _accusing her of killing his pet. It wasn't until he came right up to her and bellowed in her ear that she finally acknowledged him.

"Are you even listening to me, you volatile little girl!"

"NO!" she bellowed back, and the sheer volume of her voice stopped everyone at once. There was silence for at least a minute as everyone glared at each other.

"But...you killed it," Van Statten squeaked at last.

"No. Its clockwork. It wound down...like a clock would," Rose replied, taking a deep breath and forcing herself to calm down. Shouting would get her nowhere, she'd learnt that after several heated rows with the Doctor.

"Well, wind it back up then!"

"I can't! It needs to go back to its ship to do that, but it can't do that either. Its trapped, so it just let itself wind down. If it can't get back to the ship, it has no reason to exist anymore."

"So its broken then?"

"Yep. And perfectly harmless, which is why I'm gonna let you keep it...for the time being, at least. Until Torchwood is back up and running. Then I want it back."

"Have it," Van Statten grunted. "If its broken, I don't want it."

"So the time window's broken, but what about its teleport?" Mickey asked as he finally joined them in the room. Rose answered simply by holding up the limp, shattered wrist.

"And without knowing where the time window was, we're stuffed," she added miserably.

Mickey sniffed, chewed his lip a bit and huffed - a sequence Rose had come to learn as meaning he was deep in thought. Then he turned to Van Statten.

"Where did you say it was found?"

"Somewhere in Versailles. Then it was sold at auctions around the world before I finally purchased it."

"Versailles? It was close to its target then," Mickey murmered. "Only got the date wrong." Then he turned back to Rose, who was reading a message on her phone. "So what now?"

"We go home," she replied, absently.

"But the time window -"

"Is broken," Rose finished. "But there may be a fully functioning one much closer to home. Somewhere in London, I think."

"How do you know?"

She handed her phone to him, showing him the photo Jackie had sent her. In the picture, there was Jackie, with a strange man to her left, and a woman to her right, both of whom Mickey didn't recognise.

"They say a group of about six of them just appeared somewhere inside Madamme Tussaudes. That place just seems to attract alien attention!" Rose explained as Mickey studdied the photo. The man was quite tall, with dirty blonde hair, and fair, chiseled features. He looked to be in his late twenties, early thirties. The woman on Jackie's other side was shorter, with long curly brown hair, and soft features. She was younger than the man, and looked to be in her late teens, early twenties.

"Who are they?" Mickey asked, handing the phone back to Rose.

"The crew from Sanctuary Base Six. In the photo are Tobias Zed and Scootori Manista. They come from forty thousand years in our future."

"Time travellers?" Van Statten suddenly blurted out, and Rose could practically see the dollar signs _ka-ching _into his eyes.

"You -" she pointed towards him. "- stay away from them! You hear? Or you'll have me to answer to!"

"And what are you gonna do?" Van Statten asked dangerously. Rose eyed him for a minute, judging which was the best course of action to take.

Curling her fist into a ball, she planted it right into Van Statten's stomach, causing him to bend double. Then she elbowed him sharply on the back of the neck and sent him crashing to the floor. It only took a split second for Mickey to catch on and take out the two guards aswell, then they were running from the vault as fast as they could.

When they reached the air-lock a few levels above, Rose punched a button and the doors began to close. She dived under them with Mickey and then, when the doors had closed completely with a satisfying _thump _she allowed herself to slow to a walk.

"What the hell did we do?" Mickey gasped when he had caught his breath a little.

"We just saved a group of future humans from cruel experiments at the hands of an egotistical maniac. Now come on. That door lock may have a billion combinations, but Van Statten probably knows them all. And even if he doesn't, he's got Adam Mitchell with him."

"Who?"

"Adam Mitchell. The little git that almost caused World War Three when he logged in to the Pentagon, or something."

"That was him?"

"Yep."

"Oh...so how long do you reckon it'll take them to get out?" Mickey looked over his shoulder worriedly as he asked.

"No idea. Fancy a little jog?" Rose replied nervously, increasing her speed until she was practically sprinting down the corridor, Mickey hot on her heels.

And so they worked their way to the exit, and Rose used her psychic paper to claim that Van Statten had given them clearance to use his helicopter to take them home to London. They clambered into the back of the black helicopter named 'Bad Wolf' and settled back to enjoy the flight as Van Statten's pilot took them home.


	9. Rose's Ruminations

**Author Note: Hey guys! Whooo! Four days holiday! Four days I don't have to work! Four days where I can write more to this story! Woo Hoo!**

**Anyways, yes, I'm back again with another chapter...the ending actually proved a little more difficult than I'd imagined because I couldn't decide where to end it. But never mind. I got there in the end. **

**Oh, and today everyone seemed to have a Doctor Who related question at work, and seeing as I'm the only fan of Doctor Who, they all came to me. I now feel like a walking Doctor Who Encyclopaedia (sp? I can never remember how its spelt. Its a weird word!) So, if, in the unlikely even that you have a Doctor Who question that you want answered, you can always ask me. After all, everyone else has! Lol. **

**Honestly, I don't mind...might actually give me something to do in my time off - answering questions. Just a thought.**

**Well, enjoy!**

**oOo**

Van Statten's pilot was actually a very nice man, and once they were safely up in the air, he started chatting to Rose and Mickey, asking them questions about what sort of work they did, and so on. Rose would normally have found this intrusive or annoying, but there was something about this guy...she wasn't sure what, but she trusted him. And so she found herself telling him everything about what they'd done to Van Statten and the clockwork droid.

The pilot had laughed and promised not to tell Van Statten anything, deciding that the man was definately an egotistical maniac that needed taking down a peg or two. Rose thanked him and then found herself spilling everything about her and her family too. Even the Doctor.

The pilot admitted that he wasn't sure what to believe about her past, but he was full of sympathy for her current situation, and listened patiently as Rose told him what had been bothering her all day. After all, she wanted to tell someone, and Mickey was fast asleep, so she couldn't tell him.

"I...I just feel that...that everything I do these days links back to the Doctor, somehow. Its like something's trying to tell me not to forget him. Something doesn't want me to move on."

"How do you mean?" The pilot, who's name was Greg, asked.

"Well, Torchwood Tower, for a start, was destroyed by a sabotage spider, which I met on my very first ever trip to the future with the Doctor. At the time, I thought it might have been a parallel Doctor. Then Mr Van Statten...I've met the parallel version of him with the Doctor, and believe me, they are identical. Then that clockwork droid - again I met one with the Doctor. And all the time I was with that droid, I was constantly reminded of him. And now, at home are six people, who I again met with the Doctor. Everything ties back to him, and I'm finding it more and more difficult to forget about him these days. Infact all I have to do is close my eyes and I see him, standing there in his pin-stripped suit, grinning madly."

There was silence for a moment as Greg pondered on what she'd said. Then he spoke again.

"Wanna know what I think?"

"Sure."

"I think it's you who doesn't want to move on, and although you openly deny it, subconsciously, you're making all these links just so that you _won't _forget him. You don't realise you're doing it, but you are. Sending messages to yourself."

"That wouldn't be the first time I've sent messages to myself and not realised it," Rose muttered, remembering the whole Bad Wolf incident.

"Exactly. You've done it before. What's to say you aren't doing it again?"

"But why would I be doing it? I mean, the last time I did it was to save the Doctor. I can't save him this time."

"Perhaps its not to save anyone except yourself. You loved the Doctor, right? That was the last thing you ever said to him. So perhaps in your mind, you feel guilty for loving another, and by constantly reminding yourself of him, you don't feel so bad, because you haven't forgotten who he was, or what he meant to you."

This time it was Rose's turn to ponder on his words, and the more she thought about it, the more she realised it all made sense. She didn't want to forget the Doctor, no matter how hard she tried to convince herself that she did.

"But I've met aliens like this before...why am I only now starting to make the link? During the entire Sycorax invasion, I didn't think about the Doctor once. Yet, I've met them with him too. So what's so different this time?"

"Sorry...I dunno 'bout that one," Greg appologised, but Rose shrugged.

"Nah, it's alright. Thanks Greg," she smiled warmly.

"For what?"

"For everything."

Then, glancing out of the window, she saw that they were now circling Tyler Manor.

They landed gently on the lawn out the front, and as Greg untangled himself from the mess of wires, Rose shook Mickey awake. He muttered something inaudible, but no doubt rude, rubbed his eyes and tumbled out of the recently opened door. Rose laughed as he picked himself up and staggered away towards the front door, then took the hand that Greg had offered to her.

Springing lightly from the helicopter, she was about to follow Mickey, when Greg increased his grip on her hand gently, but firmly and spun her round to face him.

"Rose, can I give you some advice?"

"Of course."

"Just remember this, yeah? If you remember nothing else about today, just remember that your heart understands what your head cannot yet conceive. Trust your heart."

"I will," she promised. And she meant it. That was the best advice anyone could have given her at the moment, and she was never going to forget it. Greg kissed her hand lightly, then climbed back up into the helicopter. Rose stepped back a few metres to make sure she was clear of the rotors, then waved as it lifted off again and disappeared into the clouds.

Smiling contentedly, she turned and walked up to the front door, hands dug deep into her pockets.

oOo

But no sooner was she through the front door, than the smile was wiped off her face. It was like she'd walked into a battleground.

Mickey and her boyfriend Darren were wrestling with Toby Zed and Danny Bartock - Toby managing to finally get Mickey into a necklock, whilst Darren had Danny in a half-nelson. Across the room Pete and Jackie were involved in a rather loud and very heated row with Mr Jefferson and Zachary Cross Flane, whilst amidst the chaos, Scooti Manista, Ida Scott and Oli - who Rose had met the other day - were running between the groups, yelling at them to stop, or trying to drag them apart before serious bodily harm was caused. And to top it all off, Jack and Suki were standing on the landing, watching through the bannisters and chanting "Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!"

It was chaos!

She watched for a few more moments, hoping everything would calm down. But it didn't. If anything, it only got worse when Danny managed to throw Darren off, and Darren crashed into Scooti, who staggered backwards and stood on poor Ood's tail.

Ood screeched in pain and bolted towards Rose, leaping onto her shoulder and burying himself under her hair. His tail kept whipping her face, and his claws were digging into her neck.

"Ow! Ood! Get off will ya! Cut it out!" she cried, trying to free herself from the terrified kitten, but to no avail. "Right, thats it!" She'd had enough.

Striding purposefully into the centre of the hall, she shouted at the top of her voice. "ENOUGH! FINGERS ON LIPS!"

The scene she was greated with would have been hilarious, had Ood not been scratching the living daylights out of her neck. No one was moving. Everyone had frozen, mid-sentence, or mid-punch and it was like someone had stopped time, or taken a photograph.

Managing to eventually coax the kitten down from her sore neck, Rose hugged him comfortingly as she fixed everyone with a penetrating glare. No one was moving, which meant that no one was doing as she'd ordered. She decided to set the example and placed one finger on her lips. Slowly, everyone else let go of each other and copied.

_Oh my god! Another Doctor moment! This is getting ridiculous...why can't I forget him? Why can't I...ow! Damned cat! Cut it out!_

"Thats better," she said. "Now will someone kindly explain to me what's going on here?"

No one spoke for a good few seconds, then eventually Jackie decided to break the spell. "Well, I was just making our guests feel welcome here, you know, offering them a few drinks, and so on, then Mickey comes charging in here, cursing and bad mouthing - insulting everything and everyone - "

"Oh so this is my fault now, is it?!" Mickey cried angrily.

"YES!" Jackie and Ida replied in unison, shutting him up again. So he just folded his arms and sulked.

"Anyways, as I was saying...he starts kicking up a fuss, so those two...Zebedy and What-his-face try and calm him down, Darren arrives and completely misunderstands the situation, hits one of them and a fight breaks out. Then these two - " she nodded at Jefferson and Zack " - start blaming me for Mickey's behaviour. Pete comes in and jumps to my defence, and voila...chaos."

"Right. Ok," Rose nodded to show that she now understood roughly how it had all happened. "Well, first things first - " she turned and looked up at the twins. "Bed! Both of you! Its way past your bed time!"

"But Rose!" Jack tried to protest.

"No buts Mister! Get to bed!"

"But what about our story?" Suki asked.

Rose was about to answer back, when Darren interupted.

"I'll go...if you want? I don't mind. Besides, you need to sort this mess out, and apparently I just make thing worse."

"No you don't," Rose tried to reassure him, but clearly he - and everyone else - thought otherwise.

"Yay! Uncle Darren!" Suki and Jack cried together. Rose sighed and nodded, knowing there was no way the twins would sleep otherwise.

"Thanks," she muttered, kissing him on the cheek "I'll talk to you later, ok? Explain everything, yeah?"

Darren nodded and turned, making his way up stairs. Above, they could hear the twins running up the second flight to the third floor, where their bedrooms were. Rose grinned at their teasing comments towards Darren, then she turned her attention back to the others. "So, why don't we all sit down and talk about this properly, over a drink? Tea anyone?"

"Got anything stronger?" Toby asked as he nursed his rapidly swelling cheek.

oOo

"So, introductions," Pete began once they were all sat down comfortably around the fire, each clutching a mug of tea or coffee - on in Toby's case, holding a bag of peas to his cheek.

"Dad, I already know their names," Rose muttered quietly in his ear.

"But I don't...and nor does your mother. Besides, how are you gonna explain that you know the names of people from forty thousand years in your future?" Pete muttered back.

"The same way they're gonna explain how they're forty thousand years in their past," Rose grinned.

"But what if they can't?"

"Exactly."

Pete shook his head, bemused, and then both turned to regard the whole group, their quiet chat over.

"So, introductions," Pete said again. "My name's Pete Tyler. I'm the Head of Torchwood, although at the moment my department's currently lying in about a million pieces in the centre of London. This is Jackie, my wife. She owns her own hair salon in the city called...what was it Jacks?"

"Cybercut Salon."

"That was it. Then there's my adopted son Mickey, who you've already met...although not under the best circumstances, I must admit."

"Yeah, sorry about that. I'm always grouchy after I wake up," Mickey appologised sheepishly.

"Not a morning person then?" Ida asked.

"Not a morning person doesn't even begin to cover it with him," Rose grinned mischievously from her perch on the arm of the sofa that Pete and Jackie were sitting on.

"And of course, this is my daughter Rose Tyler, Deputy Head of Torchwood and Head of Earth Defence. She's the real alien expert."

"Nice to meet you all," Zack replied. Then he went on to introduce himself and his five companions, although Rose was saying their names in her head long before Zack was saying them out loud.

After that there was a moment of silence, before Ida spoke up.

"So, Rose...your Dad said you were an alien expert. Perhaps you can help us? Although I don't think our problem is strictly to do with aliens...more to do with space actually."

"Space, time, aliens...She's good with 'em all," Jackie noted proudly and Rose blushed.

"Mum!"

"It's true! You didn't do all that travelleing in time and space for nothing, sweetie."

"You travelled in time and space? You're a time traveller?" Scooti asked incredulously, leaning forwards in her seat, as though to hear better.

"Sort of. It was a long time ago. But its a long story," Rose replied quickly. She didn't feel up to re-telling her past again, just yet. "So what's this problem you wanted help with?"

Scooti and the others looked at each other hesitantly, not sure where to begin.


	10. Darren's torment

"Are you alright?" a soft voice broke the silence of the pitch blackness that Darren had been sitting in. He turned to the doorway of Rose's bedroom and saw her silhouette.

"I'm fine," he muttered, turning away from her and looking back out through the window at the now empty horizon.

"No you're not."

She came quietly into the room and sat beside him on her bed, touching his arm gently, just to reassure him that she was there if he needed her.

"Why do I always mess things up?" he asked quietly, almost ashamedly, as he turned to look at her once again."You don't!" she protested. "Is that what you think?"

"It's what I know," he countered. "I never get anything right, and I want to know why. Maybe then, if I know the reason, then I can stop myself from doing stupid stuff all the time."

"Oh Darren," Rose sighed, wrapping an arm comfortingly around him and resting her head on his strong shoulder.

"What?" he asked.

"You're hopeless," she laughed softly. "You don't mess things up. What makes you think that?"

"Well, isn't tonight enough of an example for you? I punched that guy because he insulted your brother's kitten, and look what happened." Darren rubbed his sore knuckles as he spoke, and Rose smiled sympathetically as she took his hand and examined it in the moonlight - the only source of light in the otherwise dark room.

"That doesn't mean you messed up," she told him as she gently probed his wounded hand. "That guy was called Toby, by the way. And he wasn't talking about Jack's kitten Ood, he was talking about an alien race called the Ood. A basic slave race. Everyone has one where Toby comes from."

"Exactly! So I messed up!"

"No, you made a mistake."

"There's a difference?"

"Of course there is. You can learn from your mistakes. And if you don't make mistakes, then I don't even think you could be called human," she said honestly with a slight shrug.

"You say that like aliens are a common thing to you," Darren allowed himself to laugh as he snuggled up closer to Rose, enjoying her comforting embrace.

"They are," Rose replied thoughtfully, finally allowing him to have his hand back, now that she was convinced there was no serious damage done. "Two years of my life were spent round aliens before I came here, remember?"

"I forget," Darren smiled. "It seems like I've known you a lifetime already."

"Is that a bad thing?" Rose asked cheekily as she glanced up at him. And it was then, as Darren turned to her, that he saw just how beautiful she really was. Her golden blonde hair flowing gently down the sides of her perfectly formed face, to the top of her shoulders that carried so much weight for someone so young. Darren wished so many times that he could do something to take some of the stress from Rose, but he never understood half the things she and Pete did, and so he could never help her like that. After all, what would the Head of the Medical section know about saving the world? He couldn't even speak Sycoraxic, which Rose now seemed to be fluent in, and was, according to Alex from the communications department, a basic alien language that was infact very easy to learn. That didn't explain how Rose was the only one who could actually speak it though. But then, Rose could do a lot of things that no-one else could, and that was why he loved her.

He looked into her gorgeous deep brown eyes and almost lost himself in them. He could stare into them for eternity and that would still never be long enough for him.

"I love you," he whispered, leaning closer and capturing her delicate lips in a loving kiss, that lingered and deepened, expressing his undying love for her, and in turn, her everlasting love for him. When they parted again, Rose smiled and Darren felt the fireworks inside him exploding with joy. She'd never looked at him like that before. It was a look that reflected her love for him, and magnified it tenfold.

"I love you too," she whispered back. But then she caught a glimpse of something over his shoulder and a dark shadow fell across her face. "But I can't...I shouldn't...I...no...we can't...not yet," and with that she jumped up and ran from the room. Darren thought he heard a sob as she left through the door, and heard her running back downstairs again.

_What happened? Was it something I did? _he wondered, feeling hurt and confused at Rose's sudden change in attitude towards him. _She's never objected before._

And then he saw something that he'd never noticed before either. The moonlight was picking out a single item on her dresser - an old, crumpled photo that Mickey had printed from her phone years ago, before it had packed up. A photo of a man...a tall man in a pin-striped suit with a cheeky, lop sided grin and a mop of messy brown hair. He was standing with his arm round Rose, and they were laughing at something...or maybe they were just happy to be together. They certainly looked happy together.

Darren stood and picked up the photo, then turned on the light to get a better view. He'd never met the man in the photo, but he knew who it was. It was the man Rose was still in love with, and now he understood. She'd caught a glimpse of the photo, and suddenly felt guilty that she'd allowed herself to fall in love again, with someone else.

_Not yet, _she'd said. Did that mean that she wasn't ready to move on yet, after all? He hoped so, because at least then he could hope that one day she'd be ready to move on again. It meant she could still love him...just not yet. But that meant he had to wait, and Darren hated waiting - even for someone as irresistable as Rose.

He cursed the Doctor for ruining his life, even though they'd never met, screwed the photo up and chucked it in the bin, then headed downstairs to see if he could find Rose.

oOo

But he'd never find Rose. He'd only find her if she wanted to be found, and she didn't. Not now. Not after what had happened between them.

_Why am I being so stupid? _she wondered as she wandered along in the darkness of the back garden. It was a huge grassy lawn, surrounded by woods and overgrown flowerbeds, and it was hard enough to find someone during daylight, when they wanted to be found. So Rose was sure she wouldn't be found now, in the dark.

She kicked a twig and it skittered off into a nearby bush. Then the bush shuddered and shook, and a tiny field mouse ran out, darting across the grass.

Rose stood still and watched as it weaved in and out of the long blades of grass. Then there was a shriek and something swooped down from above. A barn owl. It snatched the mouse up in its long talons and flew off into the night again, never once taking a blind bit of notice of Rose.

But then there was another shriek - this time one of pain - and the owl plummeted towards the ground, only pulling out of it's dive at the last second and dropping the mouse back in the grass, before flying off again, shrieking in anger and protest.

Rose made her way over to the mouse, who was lying in the grass, bloody scratches on its sides. She crouched down and gently prodded it, to see if it was still alive. To her amazement it was, and it flipped onto its legs again, and ran off into the bushes.

Rose smiled and remembered a quote the Doctor had once told her. _A mighty oak is the result of a nut that held its ground. _She'd once been that tiny nut - a tiny, insignificant human who worked in a dead-end job with no future. Then she'd met the Doctor, and he'd forced her to stand her ground, just like that mouse had. He'd taught her to fight for freedom and what was right, and, like the mouse, she'd cheated death on more than one occasion because of him. Torchwood was the mighty oak now, set up and run by people like her, who'd once been insignificant nobodies and now had a purpose in life.

"Good luck little fella," she whispered after the mouse, before continuing her night time tour of the garden. She could hear Darren calling her from the house, and could see lights flicking on throughout the house as he woke everyone else up, but she didn't care. She needed to think. To be alone. And no doubt all he wanted to talk about was why she'd rejected him like that.

_Why did I do that to him? How can I even begin to explain why I did it to him, if I don't actually know? Oh god, this whole thing's a mess right now!_

But if Rose thought things couldn't get much worse right now, she was wrong. Things were soon to get much worse.

oOo

Meanwhile, Mickey could hear Darren calling to Rose - his angry cries echoing throughout the otherwise silent house. It was gone midnight. Why weren't the two of them in bed, like everyone else? Realising that he'd never be able to sleep if this shouting continued, Mickey slid himself out of bed and made for the door, noticed that he was only wearing boxers, grabbed the shirt from the end of his bed, pulled it on over his bare chest, then started for the door again.

He met Darren on the landing of the second floor.

"Hey, what's going on? People are trying to sleep, ya know!" he hissed angrily at Darren, who was going along each of the doors, throwing them open and looking inside, before slamming them shut again and moving onto the next one.

"Where's Rose?" came the reply.

"No idea. Why?"

"Because I need to talk to her."

"Talk? Or shout?" Mickey sighed, rubbing his eyes and leaning on the bannisters. "You had another row, didn't you?"

"So what if we did? It's none of your business!" Darren snarled angrily as he continued his search.

"It is if you disrupt my much needed beauty sleep!" Mickey half joked as he followed. "Plus, we have guests now! Do you want them complainin' coz they couldn't sleep? Would make us very good hosts then, would it?"

"Look, if you know where she is, then tell me, and I'll stop shouting," Darren replied in frustration as another door slammed shut.

"You won't find her."

"Why not?"

"Because she doesn't want to be found. And if Rose Tyler doesn't want to be found, not even the best trackers and their dogs will find her. You could send out search parties to scour every inch of the planet and you'd still never find her."

"She can only be found when she wants to be?" Darren asked in surprise as he finally paused his angry searching and turned to Mickey. "I never knew that."

"Yeah, she's good at disappearing," Mickey nodded. "Ever wonder why she disappears for hours on end and no-one knows where she is?" Darren nodded and Mickey grinned. "Well thats usually because she's in a strop - or sulking - and doesn't want to be found until she's cooled down a little. Its her way of preserving her dignity and self respect by having her strop in private. That way if she does anything stupid, there's no-one there to see it. Kicking walls, for example, is one of her favourite stress relievers...but I guess that kinda hurts, so she does it when no-one can see, so that they can't laugh at her or tell her it was a stupid thing to do. Plus, I think it also helps her calm down quicker if she's alone."

"I never knew," Darren repeated as he began following Mickey down to the kitchen on the ground floor. "So...how do I know when she's ready to be found?"

"Because you'll find her," Mickey replied simply and Darren shooked his head in bemusement.

"Look, Mickey. I'm sorry for waking you up. Do you want a drink?" He asked as they entered the kitchen., his anger now subsiding. Mickey thought for a moment, glanced out of the window and grinned.

"Nah, I'm fine thanks. But Rose might."

"What?"

"I'm gonna go have a little chat with her - see what's really the matter. She hasn't been herself recently. But I thought she might want a drink waiting for her, seeing as it's quite cold out there."

"She's in the garden?"

"Yup."

"I need to see her!"

"No. Not yet. Let me talk to her first. I can get her to talk more than you can - no offence."

"None taken," Darren shrugged. "Does she like hot chocolate?"

"You've been dating her for over a year now and still don't know what she likes to drink?" Mickey asked in amusement.

"Well...we rarely get to see each other, and...well," Darren shrugged again, and Mickey laughed, before setting out into the garden after his sister.


	11. Rose's most peculiar morning

**Author Note: Oops, forgot to do an author's not last chapter. Oh well, there wasn't that much to say, so I'll say it now. A big thank you for all the great reviews, I'm so glad you like my ideas and chapters etc...and I would like to give a special thanks to MJ4 for all his help with some of the chapters, and his great reviews of them. Thanks so much everyone!**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter and as always, ENJOY! Hang on...I just said _enjoy_ twice, didn't I? Oh well...that means you have to enjoy it twice as much! Lol.**

**Oh, and so sorry for the late update...thought I'd already put this chapter up...oops! I think I was away with the fairies. Oh well.**

**oOo**

"You alright, Rose?" Scooti Manista asked the next morning as she and Rose sat at the breakfast table in the kitchen.

"Yeah, I spose. I didn't get much sleep last night...don't s'pose anyone did actually, with my idiotic boyfriend charging round the house all night like a madman."

"What was all that about, anyway?" Scooti asked as she took her fourth slice of toast. "I noticed you two were kinda ignoring each other this morning, and guessed it had something to do with last night, and - What is this stuff? Its gorgeous!"

"Its called toast," Rose grinned, a little wrong-footed by the sudden conversation change. It fascinated her to see how Scooti was reacting to everything. Everything was new to the young woman, exciting...even a little daunting maybe? She found herself wondering if that was how the Doctor had felt watching her on each new adventure they went on.

"You have to give me the recipe!" Scooti gasped, helping herself to three more bits and loading them with marmalade and interupting Rose's thoughts. Rose wasn't angry. Infact, she was glad she'd been interupted before she could dive head long into another bout of pining for the Doctor that would almost certainly ruin her day before it had even really begun. So instead she laughed and pushed the whole toast rack towards Scooti, who looked like she'd just unwrapped her biggest Cristmas present and found out it was a brand new bike.

Seeing as Scooti now had the toast, Rose was left with soggy cereal that had been sitting in her bowl for well over half an hour. Why had she even poured cornflakes when she didn't even like them?

She decided she'd lost her appetite and after pushing the sloppy flakes around her bowl for a while, pushed the bowl away completely, pulling her mug of tea towards her instead. She heard a shout from outside and saw Toby land in one of the holly bushes out in one of the flower beds. Clearly Darren's attempt at making up for his mistake yesterday by teaching the newcomers how to play rugby wasn't going as well as he'd hoped. She giggled as Danny, in an attempt to grab the ball, ended up pushing Toby further in and the two disappeared completely. Then Oli went over to help them out and accidentally got a rugby ball in the face.

Rose watched as Darren went over to sort the situation out, and sighed. She did love him...just...not enough. He deserved someone better than her. Someone who could give him all the love and affection he needed. After all, he was a very affectionate young man, and thrived on the love of others. His main goal in life was not to do well in his job, but to simply be loved. Rose even felt a little angry that she couldn't be the one to love him like that, because someone else was stealing her affections. Someone who wasn't even in this universe.

She let out a long sigh and tore her eyes away, taking a sip from her mug. Scooti had been watching Rose out of the corner of her eye and finally set down the slice of toast she'd been munching on, leaning forwards to fold her arms on the table.

"Alright, what's the matter? What's up?"

"Who says anything's wrong?" Rose countered casually, trying to hide her expression behind her mug.

"Look, I may only have met you last night, and I know there's still so much I don't know about you, but I can tell there's something bothering you. You seem sad...depressed even...like there's something on your mind. You know its better if you don't bottle up your emotions. Its better if you tell someone. You'll feel loads better after."

"And you want me to tell you everything so that you can give me some long lecture on how to make everything better, right?" Rose asked, but not in an unkind way, before taking another sip of her tea and pulling a horrified face. It was no good. Cold tea was almost as horrible as soggy cornflakes. Rose's mug joined her bowl as far away from her as the table would allow.

"Not at all." Scooti replied quickly, worried she may have upset Rose. "Its just...well what I meant was...I mean...if you ever wanted to talk...you know...I'm more than happy to lend an ear...not literally, but...you know...figuratively." She was floundering, and getting herself all flustered, so Rose smiled reassuringly.

"Its ok. I'de be more than happy to tell you everything if it was that easy. Infact, if it was that simple, I'd have told you anyway. Because you're right. It's good to talk."

"So, what's so complicated?" Scooti asked, relaxing a little after Rose's reassurance.

"Well, its not complicated exactly. You just wouldn't believe me."

"Rose, if someone told me yesterday that I was gonna fall down a trap door and land forty thousand years in my past, and spend the morning eating - what is it? Toast? - with the Deputy Head of Torchwood from the 21st century, I wouldn't have believed them either. Yet here I am now, and I'm ready to believe anything." Scooti replied defiantly. "And I'm loving this by the way...you really have to give me the recipe!"

"Ok," Rose agreed.

"Ok? Ok what? You'll tell me? Or give me the recipe?"

"Both."

"Ok...can I have the recipe first, before I forget?"

So Rose scribbled down how to make toast on the back of an empty envelope and handed it to Scooti, who delicately folded the paper and tucked it into her pocket, like it was some sacred parchment that needed careful handling.

Then, as Rose shifted in her seat and wondered where to begin her story, Mickey charged in, breathless and covered in mud. He bent double, placing his hands on his knees so that he could catch his breath, and Rose and Scooti looked at each other in amusement.

"Rose..." he managed to gasp.

"Yeah?"

"Window..."

"What about a window?"

"Found..."

"Found what?"

"Me and Dad..."

"Window...found...you and dad?" she repeated. "A window found you and Dad?" And then her eyes flew wide open. "No! You've found the time window!"

"Yeah."

"Does it work?" Rose cried, standing so fast her chair fell over backwards. Scooti jumped and looked from Mickey to Rose in alarm.

"What is it? What's happened?"

"Only the best thing that could have happened today!" Rose replied triumphantly as she grabbed her boots from the back door. "Come on, Mickey and I can show you. Can't we Mickey?"

"Can't...possibly...move any...further," Mickey gasped, collapsing into the nearest chair. Rose rolled her eyes in disbelief.

"You're impossible, you are!" she moaned, before leaving him to it. Scooti grabbed her jacket from the back of the chair and followed.

oOo

After Rose had found out the location by ringing Pete, she shoved her phone back in her jeans pocket, planted her hands firmly in her jacket pocket to protect them from the cold, and looked up and down the gravel drive, as if trying to decide which way to go.

Scooti just stood beside her rubbing her hands together and pulling her jacket collar even higher. There was a strong wind whipping her long hair and sending a chill down her neck, but she said nothing to Rose, who seemed perfectly used to this kind of bad weather.

At last, it seemed Rose had decided the best way to go, and instead of turning left down the drive, or right to go round the back of the house, she walked straight ahead, across the grass. Scooti followed a little less confidently, slipping and skidding a little in the sloppy mud and cringing everytime it flicked up her trouser legs. She was wearing supposedly all-weather boots, but apparently the manufacturers had forgotten to state that they were for all weather, except for that of the 21st century. The rain water was soaking through the laces and already her feet were beginning to squish and squelch.

Rose was having no trouble navigating the disgusting bog, and when they reached a dip at the beginning of the huge forest, she went ahead and slid right down it without fear, keeping her balance perfectly. Scooti had to grab a branch to help her keep her balance, and still fell down anyway. This was when Rose finally realised something was wrong and turned to her new friend.

"Are you alright?" she asked, forcing herself not to laugh as Scooti stood back up and groaned at her mud-caked boots and trousers.

"Is this really the best way to get to wherever we're going?" she sighed, trying to wipe her hands on her trousers to clean them - but they were so muddy now anyway, that she only ended up covering them even more, and in the end gave up completely.

"Sorry, but it was either a twenty minute walk through our forest, then the back lanes, or an hour's walk along the main roads."

"Right now that hour's walk is looking pretty inviting," Scooti muttered, and this time Rose really did laugh.

"You're really not an outdoors person, are you."

"Actually no...I like technology and spaceships."

"But where's the fun in that?" Rose asked as they continued on again, at a slower pace this time, which suited Scooti alot better than the rapid pace they'd been going at earlier. "In a spaceship, you never get to see the seasons change. Never get to see the leaves turn pretty colours in the autumn, the snow in winter, the new flowers in spring, the hot summers spent lying on a beach somewhere."

"I've never seen them anyway, so it doesn't bother me," Scooti shrugged.

"What, never?" Rose asked in surprise.

"Nope. For as long as I can remember, I've always been in space, travelling here, there and everywhere. Never properly visited any other planets before. Well...not till Krop Tor. But even then I wasn't on it very long before we were dragged here. One moment I'm with Ida, exploring the ship - the next we've both fallen through a hole in the ground and landed here. The others came looking for us and fell too. Now we're all stuck."

"Not for much longer," Rose replied. "I think I've found you a way home."

"You can do that? Get us home?" Scooti asked, bemused.

"Course I can. Anyone can if they know how."

"And how do you know, when no one else does?"

"Lets just say...this isn't the first time I've dealt with...similar things."

Before she could elaborate any further, Rose jumped suddenly and whipped out her phone. It vibrated in her hand, and looking at the screen she could see that it was Darren. Considering they hadn't spoken to each other all morning, she was wondering why he would be calling her now.

"What?" she asked, a little frostily, as she answered.

"It's Darren."

"Yeah I know. I saw your name on the screen."

"Oh."

"And?"

"And...I was just gonna say...well...I've been thinking - "

"Did it hurt?" she retorted, and he just laughed...sort of. Well, it was more like an amused snort or a muffled giggle.

"So, erm...I was thinking, how about tonight, we go out together. For a meal or something. You know, my treat. We could go to that Indian place you said you wanted to go to for your birthday, but never actually got to go to, coz of those Krillitaines. So I was thinking maybe we could go there tomorrow, instead."

"Why the sudden change in attitude?" Rose asked suspiciously. This wasn't like Darren at all. Normally after one of their rows, he'd sulk and mope for at least two days before deciding to forget that anything had happened.

"Because...well, I've realised that I was a jerk. A complete and utter jerk, and what I did last night was stupid. I know all these things that have happened recently must be really hard for you, and I should be supporting you, not trying to pretend they never happened. Rose, I'm sorry."

There was a long silence as Rose recovered from the shock of hearing Darren appologise. He _never _appologised. Even when he was wrong, and he knew it.

"So, what do you say?" he asked nervously after a moment. "Rose? You still there?"

"Yeah...yeah I'm here."

"And?"

"And...I think that's a great idea." This was her chance to try and be a better person, and a better girlfriend to Darren. After all, he deserved better.

"Great. Tomorrow night at seven, then. Don't be late."

And with that he hung up, and Rose tucked her phone back into her pocket. Scooti was looking at her curiously, one eyebrow raised quizically and her head tilted slightly in a curious manner. Rose just grinned and set off across the field again.

oOo

Her good mood, however, lasted as long as it took for her and Scooti to gain access to Madame Tussauds using the psychic paper, then weave their way through the exhibits to the place where the time window was.

When they arrived, they were greeted with six or seven police officers, and twice that amount of reporters, journalists and amused spectators. In the middle of it all, Pete Tyler stood, in handcuffs, arguing with the officer in charge, and the owner of the attraction.

Rose groaned and started forcing her way through the crowd until she reach the police barrier.

"What the hell is going on here?" she demanded, pushing her way through to the officer in charge.

"Who are you?" he asked angrily.

"DCI Rose Tyler," she replied, brandishing her psychic paper for the second time in ten minutes. "And you are?"

"PC Steven Philips. And this is Mr Skinner, the owner. I'm sorry ma'am, I didn't recognize you."

"Yeah, well, I'm undercover, investigating some mysterious events in this building recently. I sent my colleague to investigate earlier after sending a memo to Mr Skinner warning him of our investigations. But clearly he never got that memo, because now my colleague appears to have slipped into a set of your handcuffs, for some peculiar reason. Why is that?"

"We, erm...received a call about twenty minutes ago telling us that someone was trying to break into this place. When we arrived, we found your colleague up that ladder." He nodded to the ladder standing behind the model of the Queen. "He didn't have any ID on him, so we arrested him for breaking and entering, but he started to kick up a fuss - then you arrived."

"No ID on him?" Rose repeated. "Did you check his pockets?"

"Of course ma'am."

"Then I suggest you check them again," she suggested, secretly slipping her psychic paper into Pete's pocket as she did so.

One of the other officers stepped forwards and searched Pete's pockets, pulling the paper back out again seconds later.

"Erm, sir?" he said nervously, holding up the psychic paper. Rose had to really force herself not to laugh at the officer's face as he stared at the paper.

"And another thing, PC Philips." Rose started, placing a finger on her chin and cocking her head in a thoughtful manner as she started to pace a little infront of Pete." I wonder if you could explain to me why you arrested my colleague for _breaking _and _entering _when he was already _inside _the building when the offence was apparently commited? Surely _inside _a building, there's nothing for him to _break _and _enter_?"

The officer looked lost for words, and started to turn an even redder with embarassement.

"It seems to me that DC Smith here should be, if anything, arrested for his curiosity, because that is the only offence I can see that he has commited. But seeing as I told him to investigate this part of the building, and seeing as we don't arrest people for that kind of offence, how about you kindly remove those handcuffs? Then we can go somewhere a little quieter and less crowded and clear up this mix up. Or better still, pretend it never happened. Yeah?"

"Of course, ma'am," PC Philips replied, now a deep shade of crimson as he nodded for one of the other officers to remove the cuffs. Pete rubbed his sore wrists, then went to join Scooti and Rose.

"Thats better. Now shall we go and find somewhere quiet...Mr Skinner, can we use you office, perhaps?"

Mr Skinner, who until that point hadn't said a word, finally spoke up.

"Can't we just resolve it here and now. Then I can go back to running this place again. Every minute we waste is costing me money!"

"Mr Skinner. Look around you. By tomorrow morning the front page of every newspaper will be telling the world about this incident. Do you want them to say that it was a misunderstanding and no harm was done? Or do you want them to say how the man in charge of Madame Tussaudes was causing trouble by not co-operating with the police. Hmmm?"

"I suppose so," he agreed reluctantly, moving to lead them away through a side door marked STAFF ONLY. PC Philips followed, while the rest of the officers set about dispersing the reporters.


	12. Rose is in Peril

After sorting out the mess between Pete, Mr Skinner and the police, and convincing them that she had a warrant to search the building - courtesy of the psychic paper _again _- Rose finally got her chance to examine the time window.

However, she insisted on examining it alone, because as the others had proved when she'd asked them, they knew nothing about time windows, and would therefore most likely get in her way and stop her doing her job. She didn't want to sound mean or selfish, but they seemed to understand anyway, and Scooti was more than happy to go and examine all the different waxworks of people from her distant past, while listening to Pete explaining all about them...who they were, what they did and so on.

"I'll be back soon," Rose promised as she pulled herself up through the trap door in the ceiling above the Queen's model. Then the door slammed shut, plunging her into an eerie blackness. So black, infact, that she couldn't see her hand infront of her face. Fumbling in her pocket for her torch, she switched it on and jumped as she came face to face with another clockwork droid.

"Hi," she blurted out before she could stop herself. "Erm...is this your ship?"

"It is broken," the droid replied mechanically.

"Right, yeah...and you're looking for spare parts, right?" Rose asked, backing away slowly, keeping the droid in her torch beam.

"You are compatible."

"What?"

"You are compatible."

"Am I? I really don't think I am," she gulped.

"You are compatible. You will come with me," it repeated, advancing towards her.

"You really wanna think about this...don't do anything stupid...like using me as spare parts or something..."

"You are compatible. You will come with me."

"Yeah, you've said."

"You are compatible. You will come with me."

"Stop it!"

"You are compatible."

"I'm not! Trust me!" She'd come up against a wall by now and had dropped her torch on the floor. It illuminated the heavy boots of the approaching droid, and Rose started to panic. She fumbled about on the wall behind her for anything she could use as a weapon. Anything at all.

"You are compatible. You will come with me."

"Just - " her hand closed round something large and heavy, "-back-" she jerked it off the wall, "-off!"

A strong jet of dry ice blasted from the fire extinguisher, catching the droid full in the face. It staggered backwards, and there was the sound of cracking and crunching as its joints and mechanisms froze up. Rose heaved a huge sigh of relief and picked up her torch from the floor, shining it back at the droid to make sure it was completely frozen and couldn't move. Then she picked her way carefully past it, holding the extinguisher in its direction incase it moved anymore, and continued on down the passageway, looking for a light switch, or anything that could provide her more light than her torch was giving her.

Her heart was pounding from her close encounter, and as she continued on, she gripped the extinguisher a little tighter and threw the strap over her shoulder, wishing she'd been better prepared when she'd come. After all, she had a pistol tucked away under her pillow, and all Torchwood Field Agents were supposed to carry them at all times. Perhaps a bullet would have been more effective than dry ice. It could have lodged in the circuits and mechanisms. But then Rose hated guns. That was why she kept hers in her bedroom and rarely carried it. After all...the Doctor had been in trickier situations and never needed a gun.

"The Doctor...not him again...no offence Doc, but you're annoying me now,"she muttered quietly to herself and immediately felt guilty for being mean about her best friend, even though she knew he'd never hear what she'd said. This thought made her feel depressed again, and for a moment she forgot where she was, until she walked through a door and found herself face to face with at least fifty droids, who all turned to face her.

"Sorry, wrong door," she exclaimed, slamming it shut again and running. The door was thrown open seconds later and the droids surged out, splitting up and spilling down different corridors in an attempt to trap the unknowing Rose, who was running blindly down each corridor, not knowing what she would find around each new turn.

oOo

Away off to one side, in the shadows, a single figure sat crouched in the darkness, completely unseen by everyone around him. As Rose belted past with several droids in hot pusuit, he slowly emerged and started pursuing the pursuers, keeping to the shadows as much as possible.

He groaned quietly to himself as Rose was forced down a dead end passage and trapped. He'd hoped she wouldn't take the route they were forcing her to take, because it meant that rescuing her would be even harder. But then Rose didn't exactly have much choice of where she ran, so he couldn't blame her. He did, however, wonder what that huge fire extinguisher was doing, hanging round her shoulders, and why she was carrying it with her like some sort of weapon. If it was a weapon against the droids, why wasn't she using it?

oOo

The reason she wasn't using it was because she'd run it out blasting that other droid, and now it needed to recharge. So she was having to cart the heavy, and rather useless object round with her, in the hope that it would recharge soon, before the droids got her. As she came to the end of the passage and realised it was a dead end, an awful feeling of doom and despair came over her. She knew what these droids were, she knew what they did, and she knew what was going to happen next.

So it was no surprise when the first of the droids produced a hyperdermic needled from up their sleeve, quite literally, and advanced towards her. She backed as far away against the wall as she could, and desperately squeezed the trigger of the extinguisher. A tiny whisp of dry ice seeped out and within seconds had dissolved into the air, leaving Rose unarmed again. This time she knew it was no use, so she pulled it off her shoulder and threw it at the droid instead, hoping to knock it back enough for her to make an escape. No such luck. It simply knocked it sideways and another appeared in it's place.

Now Rose really was starting to panic. All those things she'd yet to do, all those people she hadn't said goodbye to yet...Darren...her parents...Mickey, Jack and Suki...he friends...

A single tear ran down her cheek, but she refused to let any more. She was going to stand firm, stand confident and brave...and die a hero!

A needle punctured the side of her neck and she could have screamed in surprise or shock, but she refused to give her fear a voice, and as the world became black and silent around her, she thought of one thing, and one thing only.

The Doctor.


	13. Stranger in the Dark

**Author Note: Hey guys! I did it again! I didn't add a note to the last chapter! I'm such a moron! So firstly, let me appologise for the lateness of this updat, but I was attacked with a major bout of writers block, which is my excuse for if this chapter is cack. Oh well...anyways, I can safely say that so far, no one has guessed who Rose's saviour is, although this chapter will reveal exactly who saves her life...even if it is only a brief introduction chapter...coz thats all this is...not alot actually happens unfortunately, but like every story, even the most boring, mundane incidents lead up to something much bigger in the end. Hope you enjoy it!**

**oOo**

The droids were about to lift Rose's limp body and carry her away to be disected for spare parts, when a shadow stepped across the light from the end of the passage, and a silhouette of a man appeared.

The droids turned in unison to find out who had interupted their duty, when three laser blasts caught the front droids full in the face, shattering their masks and fracturing the glass domes underneath. The mechanisms were jarred and knocked, causing many of the cogs to unnattach and simple drop out of the droids necks. Then, the screws, which the blast had knocked loose too, fell clattering to the floor, and a few seconds later, the whole domed head dropped and smashed on the metal grating, leaving headless bodies that slumped to their knees before joining their heads on the floor.

The remaining two droids produced the whirring blades from their wrists and started for the man, cloaked in shadow at the end of the corridor. But they only ended up like their companions - bodies on the floor with dis-assembled heads beside them.

Checking to make sure there were no more droids the man stepped from the shadows, put the sonic blaster back in the holster on his hip and ran a hand through his hair. Then, surveying the scene with his keen blue eyes, he spotted Rose, slumped in the corner and smiled slightly.

"Aha. Found you."

Navigating his way through the clockwork mess, he scooped Rose into his arms and studied her for a moment.

"Hmmm. 21st Century clothing...early 21st Century design...pretty face..._very _pretty infact. But you're well out of your time, Miss. What are you doing here anyway? Seems you have some knowledge of these creatures...that could prove useful later on...but for now, I think you need to rest. Now, my ship? Or yours? Oh no, wait...21st Century...you don't have space ships yet. Guess mine it is, then."

He carried her back down a series of paths, obviously taking a specific and well rehearsed route, before finally stopping beside a window showing the inside of a Chula ship. Taking one last look around to make sure he wasn't being followed, he stepped through the window and kicked a button at knee height, shutting the window down so that no-one else could use it. Then he gently layed Rose on the only bed in the surprisingly small cabin and went to the controls. Flicking a switch, he watched from his huge pilot's chair, as tiny beads of orange and gold lights encircled Rose's body, repairing the cuts and scratches she'd sustained over the last few days. They even healed the scar that had been forming on her forehead from Torchwood Tower.

oOo

Darren was pacing about just inside the door of the restaurant, checking his watch every few minutes and muttering under his breath about Rose's appauling time keeping, and how it was getting worse each day, as he waited for their table to become free. He'd been there an hour already, when a waiter finally came over to him.

"Forgive us for the delay, Sir, but your table is finally ready," he appologised with a slight bow, and Darren nodded, following the man to a table in the corner. It was a private table, away from the rest of the busy hustle and bustle of the popular restaurant. A perfect spot for a romantic couple like him and Rose.

_Who am I kidding? Me and Rose are about as romantic as a pile of bricks at the moment. _

Then he laughed at the irony of the description he'd just used. A pile of bricks. That had been the cause of Rose's change in attitude towards him. At the time he'd assumed it was because of the shock of having a whole building dropped on you, but that was a week ago now, and if anything she'd only become more hostile towards him. Less loving.

Perhaps it was the stress of trying to work this mystery out? After all, you couldn't handle the collapse of the building your sitting in, the appearance of six people you've met before but they've never met you, the knowledge that time windows are springing up all over the place, and aliens that are out of their time without feeling just a little stressed by it all. So maybe he could let her off this once.

_Get here within three hours and I might consider it, _he thought to himself as he picked up the menu and contemplated over the starters.

oOo

Rose woke with a pounding head and blurred vision - confused and slightly disorientated too. Where the hell was she, and what had happened?

A blinding white light was shining full in her face, and for one awful moment she thought she must be in heaven. But then she heard something off to one side, and turning her head away from the light, saw that she was in some sort of spacecraft, although the lighting was very poor and revealed very little about what type of spacecraft it was.

Groaning and sitting up, she cracked her head on the low ceiling and yelped in pain and surprise. This caught the attention of a shadowed figure off to one side, and he put down whatever it was he was doing and came over to her. She saw the silhouette of his form, and her heart skipped several beats as she saw that he was wearing a long coat.

"Doctor?" she murmered, rubbing her eyes in disbelief. But then she saw that the coat was a dark blue and sighed. Not the Doctor. And if she was in any doubt, the man's voice certainly settled the debate seconds later.

"Not exactly...So, Sleeping Beauty has awoken," he smiled. "I was getting worried I may have to give you a kiss."

"What?" Rose replied as she rubbed her pounding head, and tried to blink the stars from her eyes.

"You know, Sleeping Beauty was woken by a kiss from a charming prince...?"

Although Rose had her head in her hands, and felt like she was experiencing the world's worst hangover, she recognized that voice. The strong American accent, and cocky charm...but surely...it couldn't be, could it?

Looking up into the face of the man made her heart skip several beats, and a small squeek slipped from her mouth.

"Sorry, what was that?" he asked, leaning in closer.

"Jack?" she whispered, disbelievingly.

"Thats me. Captain Jack Harkness," he nodded, extending a hand to help her up. But then he paused and frowned. "How do you know me? I don't believe I've ever experienced the pleasure of your company before."

"Long story," Rose muttered as she accepted his hand and stood, wavering slightly on her unsteady legs. Jack held her up until she'd regained her footing and was able to stand once more. "Got any lights in here?"

He reached across her and flicked a switch, allowing a few lines of neon lights to flicker on slowly and illuminate a very familiar cabin. She'd been in one like this before. Maybe this exact one. Who could tell whether this was her Jack or not?

"So...hmmm...it seems like you already know me...but I don't seem to know you, so maybe introductions?"

Maybe not then. Either that or he was suffering from some strong form of amnesia.

"Oh...of course," Rose nodded, still not able to quite comprehend what was going on. "Erm...Rose Tyler."

"Captain Jack Harkness...again," he grinned, shaking her hand. "Hello."

"Hello," she replied, suddenly reminded of her first ever meeting with another Jack Harkness, so many years ago.

"So...what's a 21st Century girl like you doing in a 51st Century hell hole like this anyway?" he asked, offering her a seat, which she gladly accepted. She wasn't sure how much longer her legs could have held her up anyway.

"Its not a hell hole," she replied, looking around. "I like it. Reminds me of home...an old home...that I lived in long ago..."

"Yeah?" Jack asked curiously, joining her and handing her a glass of water. "Can't say I know anywhere in the 21st Century that even resembles this place."

"It wasn't in the 21st Century. It was...well actually I don't actually know where it was. It was all over the place. Sometimes ancient Rome, sometimes on an impossible planet orbiting a black hole...sometimes modern day London. But it was home, wherever it was," she sighed, sipping the water. Then she pulled a startled face and sniffed the water. "Why does this water taste like shuura fruit?"

"Does it?" Jack asked, taking the glass from her and sniffing it. "I dunno. Maybe the computer read your thoughts wrong. If you don't like it I can get you another?"

"No! No...the water's great. Shuura fruit was my favourite, when I was with him...But I haven't tasted it for so long, I'd sort of forgotten all about it. And did you just say the computer read my mind?"

"Yeah. Sorry. I should have checked first. Is it ok?"

"Yeah. I should be used to things raiding my mind by now," Rose shrugged and Jack raised his eyebrows at her.

"Something tells me you're a well travelled young lady!"

"Maybe," she grinned cheekily, suddenly forgetting that this Jack wasn't the one she'd befriended long ago. To her, this was that Jack, not some stranger who she'd only just met. She found herself relaxing into that comfort zone she reserved for close friends and family, because it was a time when her emotions were openly displayed. She wasn't hiding them from the world. That made her vulnerable, and that was why she only ever relaxed this much in the presence of someone she truly trusted.

Settling back with Jack and her water, she began to tell him everything, knowing that he'd be able to understand more than most of the other people she'd told. Perhaps he might even be able to answer some of her questions.

oOo

Darren downed his third glass of wine and glanced at his watched. Rose was four hours late. Where the hell could she have got to?

The restaurant was ready to close, and she still hadn't turned up. What was going on?

Pulling out his mobile, he dialled her number and held the phone to his ear. As he'd suspected, he couldn't even get a dial tone. She must be in an area where there was no signal...but where was that?

"Rose, this is getting stupid now," he grumbled as he put his phone away, called for the bill then left a large tip to appologise for wasting so much of the restaurant's valuable time, and for taking up one of its tables all night.


	14. Space Twister

**Author note: Hey guys! I'm so so so so so sorry that I haven't posted for what seems to me like years, but I've been so busy lately, that I completely sidelined this story until I managed to get back on top of everything. But now I'm back, and I hope this chapter was worth the wait. If not, then I'm very sorry, and I hopethe next few after will make up for it.**

**So as always, enjoy!**

**oOo**

"So, 19th March 2012, London, England, Earth, the Solar System do ya?" Jack asked as he fiddled with some dials on his control panel, in a very similar fashion to the Doctor at the controls of his beloved TARDIS.

"Erm...almost," Rose replied as she peered over his shoulder curiously. "Only 3 years behind. And we can work on the exact location when we get there."

"Oh, sorry. 2015 then?

"Better," Rose grinned, and the grin was quickly reflected on Jack's face as he typed in the date on a keypad and pounded a huge red button with his fist.

"Hold tight!" he warned as the ship lurched and almost knocked Rose off her feet. She clutched the back of his huge leather captain's chair and leant forwards to watch through the tiny window as the stars melded into white blurs. Then everything when black and there was nothing more to see, so she forced her eyes to find something else to look at.

What they chose wasn't exactly what she'd had in mind, however.

Jack had noticed some loose wiring and had lent over the console to reach them. Rose had turned just at that moment to find his rear end in her line of sight.

"Oh..." she gasped, blushing madly and looking down at her feet. "Um Jack?"

"Ya?" he called from somewhere across the console.

"Do you...erm...need a hand?" she asked tentatively, refusing to look up, and even raising her hand to shield her eyes a little.

"No thanks."

"Ok. I'm...erm...well I'm...I'm gonna try and phone my boyfriend. Ok?"

"Fine by me," Jack called back, obviously not listening, as he scrabbled around, clambering even further across the console in a desperate attempt to reach the wires. His legs waggled in the air, and if Rose hadn't been very embarrased, she would have found it quite comical. As it was she turned away from him and pulled out her phone. She glanced at the screen and saw she couldn't even get the display to work, let alone get a signal.

"Of course...we're in deep space. I can't do this anymore," she muttered, pocketing her phone and turning back to Jack, who thankfully had changed position so that he was now kneeling in a tiny gap behind the console, fiddling with the wires.

"Don't s'pose you have a phone, do you?" she asked uncertainly, and Jack glanced up at her, giving her a quizical look, like he was suddenly hearing her for the first time.

"We're deep out in the middle of the time vortex. It don't matter how powerful your phone is...you won't get a signal out here."

"I used to," she replied without thinking, and he frowned.

"You did? How?"

"The Doctor did something to my phone. Turned it into a superphone. I could use it anywhere - well, except for Krop Tor, but then there was a huge black hole interferring with the signal, so that wasn't surprising really. It broke a few years ago though. I haven't been able to use it since."

"Still got the phone?" Jack asked as he leapt lightly back across the console.

"Erm yeah...actually," Rose nodded a little sheepishly as she pulled the black Samsung from her back pocket and handed it to him. He pulled the back off and carefully removed a black item similar to that of a phone battery.

"Hmmm, never seen one of these before. What is it?"

"I've no idea," Rose shrugged. "He never told me. Just said that with a bit of jiggery-pokery, my phone would work anywhere."

"Then he did tell you," Jack grinned, ejecting a disk tray from part of the console and slotting the black device into it.

"What?" Rose asked, confused. Had she just missed something?

"Jiggery-pokery. I've never seen one before, but I've heard of them."

"That thing's called a jiggery-pokery?" Rose asked, barely stiffling a giggle.

"Not exactly. This is a Jiggery-poke. Jiggery-pokery is the art of making and constructing a jiggery-poke," Jack replied matter-of-factly as he typed something into a keyboard that had appeared, seemingly from nowhere.

"Right," Rose nodded. "That strangely makes sense."

"Course it does," Jack grinned. "I came second in jiggery-pokery."

"The Doctor came first."

"Really? Bet he failed hullaballo."

"Hullaballo? Is that like jiggery-pokery."

"Not really. Hullaballo's the art of making and constructing a hullaba."

"You're kidding...right?" Rose asked, not entirely sure if he was or not.

"Why would I be?" Jack asked, deadly serious as he took the black object back from the computer and put it back inside the phone again. With a click and a beep, the screen lit up and the display came back on.

"No way!" Rose exclaimed as she shoved her new phone back in her pocket and took her old phone back, staring at it in amazement,

"Yes way," Jack replied triumphantly. "Told ya I wasn't kidding."

"This is just...mental," Rose gasped. "You fixed it!"

"Wasn't broken," he replied casually. "Just needed recharging."

"Oh Jack! Thanks so much!" she exclaimed in sheer delight, throwing her arms around his neck and almost knocking him backwards.

"Hey steady on!" he gasped, throwing out a hand to steady himself. "Don't you have a phone call to make?"

"That was just a distraction," Rose admited sheepishly as she let go of him again and blushed slightly.

"Didn't work," Jack replied. "I wasn't paying attention in the first place to be honest."

"Not for you...for me!"

"Why did you need a distraction?" Jack asked, confused. Rose glanced involuntarily at the console, then back at him and he somehow managed to figure it out. "Hey, it could have been worse," he shrugged.

"How?" This time it was Rose's turn to be confused.

"Well...it could have been me lookin' at you."

"Oi!" Rose slapped his shoulder and he yelped in pain, but there was a huge smile on his face never-the-less. However, just as he was about to continue the light hearted banter, his ship gave a violent shudder, the lights dipped for a few seconds and alarms began ringing and shrieking in the confines of the tiny cabin. Rose clamped her hands over her ears because the noise was so deafening.

"What the hell?!" she could just about hear Jack exclaim above the din. He charged back over to the controls and began pressing and pummeling each button in turn, desperation causing beads of sweat to drip down his forehead.

"What's happened?" she asked, rushing to join him.

"Hold that button down," Jack ordered, pointing to a large blue button across the console. Rose lunged forwards and flattened the button, then glanced back at him.

"Hold that button down!" he repeated loudly.

"I'm holding this one down!" she snapped, indicating to him that she was holding it down as far as it would go.

"Well press it harder!" he shot back.

"If I press it any harder, I'm gonna press it through the console!" She was getting annoyed now, and frustrated at the lack of information Jack was giving her.

"Then hold THAT one and THAT one too!" he pointed to two buttons on either side of the controls.

"You're kidding right? I'm not a bloody octopus!"

"Do you want to live?" Jack asked angrily as he dived under the circuit board, searching for a set of wires.

"Men!" she grumbled, extending her arm to hold down one button, whilst trying not to let go of the first one. Then she shifted her feet so that one could take her weight while the other one reached up and planted the heel of her boot on the button.

"What now?" she called from her rather awkward and undignified position.

"Ow I eed do geg do dat buddon der," Jack replied through a mouth full of wires as he reappeared. Then he reached under one of her arms to press a large red button. His left foot kicked a large lever downwards and held it down, whilst with his other hand, he reached round Rose's back and under her other arm to a smaller lever, which he flicked and held up.

A few seconds of mad, violent shaking followed before everything settled back down again, and Rose felt, rather than heard Jack give a huge sigh of relief. His mouth was so close to the back of her neck, she could feel his breath, even through the huge bundle of wires he was holding, and it sent a tingle down her spine.

"Well..." she broke the silence after a moment. "This has definately got to be the weirdest game of Twister I've ever played. How 'bout you?"

"Nah," Jack replied as he spat the wires out onto the floor. "Mine would have to be that time in a club on Duros 9. Seriously, never play Twister with an octopus creature and hope to win. It ain't gonna happen!"

Rose laughed then, and very carefully and gingerly, began to untangle herself from the console, wires and Jack, who was being very unhelpful...almost deliberately getting in her way as he also tried to untangle himself.

"Watch your back," he warned as she tripped on a wire and stumbled backwards, almost into the wall. He shot out a hand to help her, and her skin tingled at his delicate touch. Reminding herself firmly that she didn't need another man in her life right now, she cleared her throat and turned away to look out the window.

"Where are we?" she asked. "Looks like some kind of mountain range, or valley."

"Oh dear. Not good," Jack muttered, and Rose turned to him cautiously.

"Whats not good?" she asked suspiciously, recognizing that tone of voice from another Captain Jack Harkness who she'd spent time with years ago.

"We're erm...a little off course," he replied, trying to sound calm and casual. But it was his eyes that betrayed him.

"How far off course?" Rose asked, glaring at him. She didn't like the sound of this.

"Well, erm...not far. Just Rome...Ancient Rome actually...165 AD to be precise."

There was a sharp crack as Rose's hand connected with a section of the metal wall of the cabin, a loud groan of annoyance and anger, and then her curses began to echo throughout the ship - and probably the whole of Rome too.


	15. Affirmative

**Author Note: My appologies for the lateness of this update once again, but I do actually have a very good excuse...its my driving test soon and I've been practicing like mad!**

**Anyways...this chapter is still a little slow to get going, and I don't think it really gets anywhere, but its necessary, I assure you, and without it you won't have a Scooby as to what's going on...plus, it leads to the next chapter (obviously) which is hopefully gonna be the most action packed one yet. Because put it this way...by the end of this chapter, both Rose and Jack are gonna be...no, I won't spoil it now. You'll just have to read and find out. HAHAHAHA!**

**So enjoy!**

**oOo**

"Ok, so we're in Ancient Rome...thats ok...you can just fly us out of here again right? So everything's fine," Rose said, expressing her thoughts as she paced up and down inside the ship, trying to reasure herself that everything was fine. When Jack didn't answer, she glanced at him and saw his appologetic expression.

"Ok, so we're trapped in Ancient Rome with no way of getting home again..." Rose corrected angrily. "This is just brilliant! I'm either very late or very early for my date with Darren, depending on which way you want to look at it, I'm stuck in Ancient Rome with Captain Impossible, thousands of years before I'm even born, and I can't even go out and explore because I have no clothes to blend in with the crowd. This is just absolutely bloody brilliant!"

"Its not my fault!" Jack protested for the millionth time since their crash landing. He pulled a torch from his pocket and fiddled with some of the wiring under the control panel. He seemed to like doing this almost as much as the Doctor had loved tinkering with the TARDIS.

"Nothing's ever anyone's fault!" Rose snapped as she threw herself down on the bed, grabbing a fist full of the bed sheet and crumpling it angrily in her hand. She was about to continue her angry rant when an idea struck her.

Glancing down at the pure white sheet in her fist, she stood up and whipped it off the bed, holding it up to get a better look at its size and shape. Then a smile began to play at her lips as she saw Jack's filing cabinet of odd bits that he'd collected on his travels. Jack was too busy fiddling with the wires to notice what she was planning, so she went over and started rooting around in the drawers, pulling out odd bits and pieces that might help. She found an old jewel encrusted broach, a gold hairband, some bangles, a thin gold belt and a pouch containing some old roman coins...not much, but hopefully enough to buy some decent clothing for her and Jack so that they could blend in. Making sure that Jack wasn't watching, she stepped behind a curtain at the other end of the ship.

oOo

"What do you think?" A voice behind Jack asked as he re-emerged from the bundle of wires some time later. He turned to find Rose dressed in a pure white dress that had been draped across one shoulder and fastened with a broach. Her hair was braided back in some intricate fashion and held with a gold band, and at her waist, a gold belt held a tiny pouch that jingled, no doubt full of coins. Luckily the dress was long enough to cover her trainers.

"Wow!" he breathed, amazed. "You look beautiful! Where did you find those?"

"You'd be surprised what you can do with an old bed sheet and some bits of junk," Rose grinned, giving him a twirl. She had to admit, it didn't look half bad. She could almost pass herself off as a Roman citizen.

"So, where are you going?" Jack asked as Rose headed for the door.

"To buy some clothes...maybe a few souvenirs too. Who knows?"

"When in Rome," Jack grinned and he flicked the switch to open the door for her.

"Exactly," she nodded, hovering in the doorway. "I may aswell make the most of it. Its not everyday you get transported thousands of years into your past and given the opportunity to go shopping. Well...it used to be for me...but that's not the point. I never got to shop then. I always seemed to end up running for my life somehow." She paused for a moment, as though trying to work out just exactly why this was, when Jack interupted her thoughts.

"Well, by the time you get back, I should have this hunk of junk fixed and ready to go." He indicated his ship with a vague wave of his hand. "Although I wouldn't get your hopes up."

"I won't be long," Rose grinned as she left and the door hissed shut behind her.

oOo

Twelve hours later and she still wasn't back. Jack was starting to get worried now. He glanced at his watch again to make sure it had been twelve hours, and that he wasn't imagining things, then he plonked himself down in his chair and pressed a button.

"Computer, do a ten mile scan for Rose Tyler. She can't have gone that far. Not on foot anyways."

"Scans for Rose Tyler within a ten mile radius complete." The computer replied in an automatic, emotionless voice.

"And? Where is she?" Jack asked, sitting forwards in his chair, ready to look at the map once the location was given.

"She is nowhere."

"What? How can she be nowhere?" Jack asked, bewildered.

"She is nowhere."

"Are you sure? Did you check everywhere?"

"Affirmative."

"Under the kitchen sink?" He was getting annoyed now.

"Affirmative."

"Well, widen the search then. Twenty miles. Thirty. A hundred! Just find her will you!" He sat back in his chair. "And hurry up!" he added as an after-thought. A few minutes passed this time before the computer answered once again.

"She is nowhere."

"You must've taken most of the impact from the crash!" he snapped as he sat forwards in his chair again. "Ok, show me the criteria you're searchin' for."

A long scroll of paper started to slowly eject from a part of the console as the computer printed out all the search criteria. Jack ripped it out once it had finished and began to scan the page.

"_Human...female...21st Century clothing...blonde haired_...is this all you were searching for?"

"Affirmative."

"Then no wonder you can't find her, you stupid thing! She's not wearing her 21st century clothes! She's wearing my bed sheet and some old trinkets!" He sighed in annoyance and began to type in his own criteria for the computer to search.

Human. Female. Blonde haired. Bed Sheet. Trinkets. Trainers. Rose Tyler. Time Traveller. Background Radiation. Nanogenes.

"There, try that," he said as he hit enter and sat back to wait. However, less than ten seconds later, a light flashed up on the radar.

"Target matching all criteria points one hundred percent has been located."

"Well? Where is she?!" Jack demanded.

"Target known as Rose Tyler is located in the Flavian Ampitheatre."

"The Colloseum? What the hell is she doing there?" Jack didn't know whether to be amazed, alarmed, angry or all three. "Computer, can you bring up some satellite images of the area. I wanna see what she's doing in the Colloseum of all places."

"Satellite images of the Flavian Ampitheatre are currently unavailable at this time. Please try later." Although the voice was emotionless and mechanic, Jack could almost hear the sarcasm and smugness.

"Hey, don't you go getting all call centre on me you worthless hunk of junk!" He snapped, bashing the arm of his chair in irritation. "Just bring up the images!"

"There are no satellites in the area to retreive images from."

"Why not?" Jack asked, momentarily confused. And then he realised. "Right, Ancient Rome! Satellites won't be invented for at least a thousand years yet. Ok, I can see the flaw in that plan now. Computer, can you send Rose's location to my portable comm so that I can find her on foot."

"Affirmative. Sending of target's location to portable communications device, one hundred percent complete."

Jack's wrist watched bleeped a few times, and as he checked the screen, he saw the same image that was being projected onto the larger screen in front of him.

"At last, we're getting somewhere. Right, I'm off to get Rose. You - " he pointed at the ceiling. "- be good!"

"Affirmative." The computer replied.

"_Affirmative," _Jack mimicked as he left through the door and it hissed shut behind him. Just for extra security, he pressed a button on his wrist device and the ship vanished from sight.


	16. Gladiator

**Author Note: Hey guys, here's the next chapter. I hope it was worth the wait...erm...not alot else to say at the moment really...I think I should let the story speak for itself maybe? Ok then...here we go...**

**oOo**

The Colloseum, or Flavian Ampitheatre as it was known in those days, was a huge imposing building that stood tall and proud in the centre of the city. Jack had no problem locating it or getting inside to the stands where the crowds were flocking to find seats. What he did have a problem with, however, was locating Rose. His radar indicated that she was somewhere in the surrounding area, but as he looked around, all he could see were row upon row of blood thirsty spectators waiting for the main fights to start down in the arena.

He was so busy scanning the crowd for anyone who looked remotely like her when a hand grasped his from behind and he spun round to find Rose smiling at him sweetly...a little too innocently.

"Hello," she said brightly, through gritted teeth.

"Where the hell have you been?!" Jack demanded angrily, completely missing her obviously false delight at finding him. Several of the spectators turned to them, giving Jack very odd looks. Rose continued to smile sweetly and started to lead him away out through one of the entrance tunnels. Then, when no-one was looking, she diverted down a side tunnel and threw him up against the wall, clamping a hand over his mouth to prevent him from protesting.

"What the hell are you doing?!" she hissed angrily, making sure that there was no one around before she removed her hand from his mouth.

"What?!" Jack cried, completely baffled by her behaviour. "Get off me! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Rose reluctantly let go and continued to check that no-one was around.

"What the hell is wrong with _you_!" She countered angrily. "You can't just go swanning into the middle of the Colloseum during a major event, dressed like that you idiot! You stood out a mile and a half! It was easy for me to spot you! What would have happened if I hadn't got to you first, hmmm? You hear that?" She indicated to the crowds cheers and the sudden violent screams down in the arena with a vague hand gesture. "That could have been you!"

She had a point, and now that he thought about it, he realised just how stupid he'd been. He hung his head slightly, almost in shame. He'd just broken the first rule they ever taught you at the Time Agency. Blend in with the crowd.

"Was I really that obvious?" he asked sheepishly, looking down at his grey trousers with maroon braces and blue shirt tucked into them. He'd left his coat on the ship, which could have been a good thing judging from Rose's face now as she pretended to think about his question. Then she replied sarcastically, "No, not at all. I hardly recognized you." Jack was about to protest when her face softened a little and she let out a long sigh, like a mother who's just told her child off, but can't stay mad at him forever.

"What are you doing here anyway?" She asked.

"Looking for you. What are _you _doing here?" he asked as he finally stepped away from the wall. Then he frowned. "And why are we hiding?"

"I may have...erm...upset a few of the locals," Rose replied quietly as she peered round the corner. "I was hiding in the crowd."

"How'd you manage that?" he asked, slightly amused, joining her in peering round the corner.

"What, hiding in the crowd, or getting into trouble?" she asked cheekily.

"Both."

"Well this was the largest crowd in the area. I though it would be easy to blend in and get lost amongst everyone. And I sort of...insulted the Emperor...by accident of course! My latin's not what it used to be."

"You can speak latin?" Jack asked, impressed, but Rose just looked a little sheepish.

"Not really. I did go to latin club at school...but only coz I fancied the teacher, Mr Davies. Then when I met the Doctor, everything got translated for me so I didn't need to speak it anyway."

"Just can't take you anywhere, can I," he joked as they stepped out and started down the corridor away from the stands.

"Hey, I've done worse in the past," Rose said, trying to defend her actions.

"Do I want to know?" Jack asked suspiciously.

"Probably not," Rose replied with a cheeky grin. Then that grin rapidly turned into a look of horror as two Roman prison officers walked round a corner up ahead and started towards them.

"Play it cool," Jack whispered. "Act natural."

The guards walked straight past without even acknowledging them, but Rose paused and turned to watch them go. Something wasn't right about them. She'd suddenly been given a funny feeling as they'd walked past.

"Come on," Jack muttered, tugging her hand and forcing her to continue on with him down the dark tunnel. A few seconds later there was a loud shriek like some sort of animal from behind them. Rose spun on the spot, her nerves tensing, her senses becoming increasingly alert. She'd heard that sound before.

"Whats wrong?" Jack asked, noticing this sudden change.

"Can you do scans of the area on that fancy watch thing you're wearing?" she asked, although she never turned to look at him. Just kept her eyes focused on the flame lit tunnel they'd just come down.

"Course I can. Why?" he asked, bringing the wrist device up to show her.

"Can you scan the area for alien life? There was something not right about those two guards, but I can't quite say what."

"You think they weren't human?" Jack asked as he started the scan. Rose nodded, keeping a steady focus on the tunnel, but shifting her feet a little - a sign that she was nervous about something.

"You're right," he replied after a moment. "Can't say what species they are, but they're not human."

"I knew it!" Rose exclaimed as she broke into a run, heading after the two guards. "Come on! There might be more of them!"

"So what if there is?!" Jack called as he ran after her. "What can we do about it?"

"We can stop them! Thats my job! To stop aliens. No-one ever said I had to only stop the ones in the 21st Century!"

"Rose! Wait!" Jack called after her as he tried to catch up. "No-one said you had to go and get yourself killed either! Rose! ROSE!"

oOo

"Where'd they go?" Jack hissed as he and Rose slipped along the vast, pillared corridors of one of the lower levels under the main arena. It was all a complicated maze and Rose was finding it hard to get her bearings. She now had no idea where she was going, or where the alien guards had gone either.

Their footfalls were dulled significantly by the screams and cheers from the arena up above, but Jack was very uneasy. The place seemed deserted - too much so, Jack believed. Even with the events up in the arena, there should still be guards about.

"Where is everyone?" Rose whispered, unconsciously echoing his thoughts. He held a hand up to silence her, and tilted his head, sensing...something.

"Wait," he said, listening harder. There was something here with them. Something was close. His instincts turned his eyes up towards the ceiling, and he watched in amazement and horror as the crossbeams above seemed to pulse, as if they were alive.

"Krillitaines!" Rose realised as several winged forms seemed to grow right out of the pillars, detaching and dropping down. They were tall and lean, sinewy strong but not skinny, with orange tinted skin and long saliva filled mouths and rows of jagged teeth.

"You should not be here!" one of the creatures said, advancing towards her. Jack had never seen anything like them before, so he was hoping Rose would know their weaknesses, attack patterns and anything useful. But to his horror, she was no longer beside him and was slowly backing away. That was a bad sign. It meant they must be dangerous.

"You should not be here!" the creature growled again as it started to advance on them.

"Neither should you!" Rose countered, backing away with Jack who now had his blaster in his grip, aimed at the front runners of the advancing aliens.

"This area is off limits to civilians!"

"Its a good job we're not any ordinary civilians then, isn't it," Jack replied, and then, turning fast on pure instinct and reflex, he began to take down the creatures that had crept up behind them. But for each one he took down, two more replaced it, heading in boldly for the Captain.

"Run!" he shouted to Rose, but she was already moving, through a gap in the alien crowd, along the corridor and towards a distant gateway.

Giving the nearest Krillitaine a sharp kick in the chest to keep it at bay, Jack dove through another gap and ran after Rose. He darted through the doorway behind her just as she was trying to back out, and it didn't take long for him to work out why.

"Back!" Rose cried, but even as she and Jack began to turn, the iron gate slammed shut behind them, leaving them trapped in the iron cage elevator that started to move almost immediately upwards. Up. Up into the arena. Up into the carnage above. It must have been the wild beasts' entrance to the arena from their cages down below.

Rose didn't hesitate. She was thinking rapidly and even before the elevator had completed its ascent, she was heaving the heavy iron gate open and leaping up, out onto the sandy floor.

"Come on!" she called to Jack. "We have to find a way out of here!"

"But what about the Krilli-thingies?" Jack bellowed.

"Leave them. We can deal with them later!"

"But what happened to us trying to stop them?"

Rose wasn't listening now. She'd already darted off across the huge arena towards a distant gateway.

"Rose!" Jack cried as he pocketed his blaster and followed. "Seriously woman, you're gonna be the death of me! Will you wait! Hey! Are you even listening to me?! ROSE!"

oOo

Rose's plan was simple. Get out of the arena. Find a safe place to rest so that she could inform Jack about the Krillitaines and make a plan. Attack the aliens with everything they had. Get home before they got themselves into any more trouble.

Ok, so maybe it was simple in theory, but it would be almost impossible in reality. Still, impossible is what Rose did best.

Dashing across the blood soaked arena, she glanced across to see that the two Gladiators - a Thracian and a Murmillon if her limited latin knowledge was anything to go by - had paused in their fight and were watching her cautiously.

"Don't mind me!" she called back cheerily, giving them a little wave. "I'm just passing through. You carry on. Don't let me stop you."

The Gladiators looked from her, to each other, then up to the Emperor, completely unsure of what to do. It seemed the Emperor was a little confused by the whole situation too. As Rose reached the gate and pummeled it furiously with her hand, trying to open it even though she knew it was locked, the Emperor stood and walked to the edge of his box.

"What is your name?" he called down to her. At first Rose didn't realise he was talking to her and ignored him. But then when Jack joined her, he nudged her and nodded in the direction of the dignitaries box.

"What is your name?" the Emperor called again, and this time there was no mistaking who he was talking to. He was pointing to her with a huge commanding finger. The crowd couldn't believe that the Emperor was actually talking to someone down in the arena, and fell silent, not wanting to miss a word.

"Rose Tyler!" she called back. She couldn't be bothered with all the pleasantries of 'My Lord' and 'Your Highness' because after all, why should she be polite to him when he hadn't been to her?

"What are you doing in the arena, Rose Tyler? Are you a slave?"

"No."

"A Gladiator?"

"No."

"A guard?"

"No."

"An escaped prisoner?"

"No."

"Then who are you and why are you interupting my sport?"

"I'm Rose Tyler, and like I already said, I'm just passing through. I was trying to find the way to the stands and got lost. Took a wrong turning somewhere, that's all. Any chance you could let us out? Then you could go back to watching your -" the word stuck in her throat but she forced it out, "- _sport_."

The Emperor seemed to ponder this for a moment, but a chanting started up in the crowd.

"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Kill them! Kill them! Kill them!"

Rose's blood ran cold. If the Emperor listened to his people, which he no doubt would, then she and Jack were in big trouble. Then she turned to look into the dark tunnel behind her and gasped. Three Krillitaines were standing watching her with blood thirsty eyes. They wouldn't dare show theselves like that in public, but in the dark shadows, they couldn't be seen by anyone except her, so they were safe. Rose knew why they were there. They were waiting for someone to be defeated in the arena so they could drag his body off and feast. That must have been why they were disguised as guards, so that they could do this unnoticed. She started to back away from the gate and this time it was her turn to nudge Jack and nod at where he was supposed to be looking.

"Jesus Chri-" Jack started to say, but Rose clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Shhhh! Jesus! Romans! Cross! Remember?!" She hissed. Jack took the hint and immediately stopped.

"Right, don't wanna cause a riot now," he muttered. "That would be the last thing we needed." He was expecting Rose to come up with some witty comment, but she was pre-occupied. She'd just seen the Emperor's decision.

Thumbs down.

"Now we're in trouble," she groaned, as the two Gladiators forgot their fight with each other and started towards them instead. "Which one do you want? Thracian or Murmillon?"

"What?" Jack asked, not paying attention. He was still watching the Krillitaines in the tunnel.

"Which one? Left or right?"

"Oh, erm...right," Jack replied turning round at last and noticing the even deadlier Gladiators, with their glinting metal armour and cruel looking weapons. "Plan of action?"

"Haven't got one," Rose replied, keeping her eye on her Gladiator - the Thracian.

"I like your style," Jack grinned. "Split?"

"On three?" Rose suggested.

"One...two..."

They darted apart, running in opposite directions. The Gladiators paused for a moment, then set off after their quarry, while the crowd cheered and the Krillitaines watched with hungry eyes.


	17. Gate Crashers

**Author Note: Hey guys! I got some good news for you all! I went a bit crazy at the weekend and actually wrote the next 3 chapters of this story! So with any luck, they should near enough be posted one after another. Yayness! **

**So I hope they were all worth the wait, and enjoy!**

**(Oh and I passed my driving test first time too, double yayness!)**

oOo

_Ok sword. I need a sword, _Rose thought as she darted around the outskirts of the arena. _Or a shield...or something!_

She wasn't exactly thrilled at the idea of having to fight, especially against a trained fighter such as the Thracian, but it was the only way. Glancing over her shoulder to see where her pursuer was, she suddenly felt her stomach drop and found herself looking up at the clouds in the sky. In a daze, her muddled mind tried to figure out _why _exactly she was lying on the floor. There was something warm and wet soaking through her bed sheet clothing, and she groaned in disgust as she felt it, then examined her hand to find it covered in a sticky crimson liquid. She'd slipped in a puddle of blood she hadn't even seen. Wiping her hand furiously on a clean section of the bed sheet she was still wearing, Rose managed to roll to one side just as the Thracian's blade came down in the spot her head had been seconds before. Kicking out angrily, her foot caught his helmeted head and stunned him. He staggered backwards as Rose howled in pain. Kicking a steel helmet was not a good idea when all you were wearing on your feet were trainers.

But then, seeing the Thracian stagger back holding his helmet, no doubt trying to rid himself of the ear ring she'd just given him, she took advantage of the distraction and scrambled to her feet again, limping away towards a rather promising looking gateway over the other side of the arena.

oOo

Jack, meanwhile, was having slightly better luck. His sonic blaster lay in the sand somewhere, but at least now he had the Murmillo's huge shield to protect him. He'd knocked the sword from the Gladiator with his blaster, but then it had been thrown from his hands by the huge shield. He'd dived under the Murmillo's arm and wrestled the huge sheet of metal off him, before setting off again. Now he was simply hiding behind the shield during each frenzied attack by his opponent, and during the brief pauses while the Murmillo adjusted his grip on the sword, or regained his breath, Jack would charge forwards and use the shield to knock the Murmillo backwards, giving him time to make a run for it again.

Out of the corner of his eye, during one of these frenzied attacks, he saw Rose reaching through a huge gateway, as though trying to grab something on the other side. He didn't have a chance to find out what though, because this momentary distraction allowed the Murmillo to sneak round the shield and lash out again. Only by ducking and rolling off to one side was Jack able to escape. But now he'd dropped his shield and was defenceless once again. There was nothing he could do but run for his life and hope a new plan presented itself to him soon.

oOo

"Gotcha!" Rose cried in triumph as her hands closed around the handle of a huge sword sitting in a rack on the other side of the gate. Jerking it away from the rack, she tried to pull it through the bars, but it was too big and wouldn't fit.

"Bugger it!" she exclaimed as the sword dropped from her grip and clattered to the floor. A sudden feeling warned her to turn around, and she saw the Thracian charging towards her. A petrified "Help!" escaped her lips as she turned back to the gate, because there was no way she'd be able to get past the Thracian now, and the gate wouldn't open either. She tugged frantically on the cold metal bars, begging them to open, but they wouldn't and as she glanced over her shoulder again, she saw the Thracian lower his sword, ready to skewer her. The crowd hushed, sensing the first kill, and over the other side of the arena, Jack managed to escape his opponent long enough to look on in horror.

Rose took a deep breath and jumped up onto the gate, climbing to the top with only seconds to spare before the Thracian crashed angrily into it. The impact of his body hitting the gate jerked it so violently that Rose almost lost her grip. But she held on, and for now she was out of his reach.

"Looks like that bronze was more useful than I thought," she muttered to herself, remembering her award from the Jericho Street Junior School, Under-7's Gymnastic Team. That award had saved her life once before, and now it had done it again.

"Get down from there!" The Thracian bellowed as he barreled into the gate again and again, trying to knock her off.

"No!" Rose replied stubbornly as she gripped the bars even tighter. "Make me!"

oOo

"Why do you run, Gladiator? Are you afraid I will beat you?" the Murmillo taunted as he and Jack circled each other, never breaking eye contact.

"Actually," Jack replied - his eyes darting off to one side for less than a second, before taking up contact again - "I'm not a Gladiator...I'm a Captain. Cap'n Jack Harkness at your service. And as for you beating me? Whatever!" He made a W shape with his thumbs and index fingers as he said it, and the Gladiator paused.

"What is that?" he asked, confused.

"What's what?" Jack asked, equally as confused.

"This. What is this?" the Murmillo replied, making the same W shape at Jack, which was easier said than done with a huge sword in his hand.

"That? That means whatever...it makes a W shape...see?" Jack showed him again.

"I see. So this means 'whatever' in your country," the Murmillo confirmed, and Jack shrugged.

"If you like, big fella."

"Ok. Can we get back to fighting now?" the Murmillo asked innocently.

"Oh yeah sure. Got a little side-tracked didn't we. Sorry about that," Jack replied appologetically. Then he realised what he had just said and gulped. "Uh-oh."

The Murmillo lunged at him again and he legged it.

oOo

"I'm getting bored now," Rose sighed as, for what seemed like the hundredth time, the gate rattled and shook under the impact of the Thracian. However, it was only a weak little shudder now, because the gladiator was exhausted, so she barely needed to hold on, which was a relief seeing as her hands had blistered right up. She looked down to see the Thracian slump against the gate, dropping his sword and shield into the sand in defeat.

_Yes! One down, one to go..._

Rose was just about to drop down from her perch and retrieve his weapons for herself when something black and white streaked across the arena towards the gate. It shook violently this time, almost dislodging her, and in seconds Jack was beside her.

"Room for another?" he asked, panting hard. Rose did a double take at the man clinging to the gate beside her, then glanced down to the sand, then back to Jack, and was still trying to overcome the shock of his sudden appearance when the Murmillo barreled into the gate, unable to stop intime.

"Oh not again!" Rose exclaimed in annoyance. "My hands are killing me!"  
"What?" Jack asked in disbelief as he clung on tightly.

"Look, we need to find a way out of here," Rose said distractedly as she glanced around above her. "We can't hang around here all day."

Jack snorted with laughter, but Rose shot him a deadly glare and he stopped immediately. "Sorry. I thought you were being funny. You know...'hanging around'...sorry."

"Whatever," Rose sighed, turning her attention back to the stonework above her and reaching up a hand to explore the parts she couldn't see. "If we could just...maybe...climb up this wall..."

"Unless you're related to Spiderman, I think that's most probably not gonna happen," Jack retorted.

"Well Batman's my uncle, and Superman's my cousin, so you never know." For a moment Jack wasn't sure if she was joking this time, or if she was still being serious, but then he saw her grin madly, and knew she was joking. He was about to come back with a witty reply of his own when the gate shuddered so violently that he had to grip it tightly again. Rose, who'd only had one hand on the bars, lost her grip and tumbled to the arena floor, landing unceremoniously on her backside in the sand.

Three things happened at once then.

The first was that Jack screamed her name in alarm as he realised the evident danger she was in.

The second was that the Murmillo pounced at Rose, sword held high, ready to deliver a killing blow.

The third was that the Thracian fell backwards through the other gate, which had suddenly swung open.

There was a distant sound of thundering hooves, rapidly growing louder, and Rose knew that something was coming her way, other than the blade of the attacking Gladiator. She threw herself to the side as a chariot burst from the gates, narrowly missing her by inches. The Murmillo and Thracian weren't so lucky and both disappeared under the crushing hooves of the horse pulling the chariot. The horse snorted in anger and fright, jumped sideways, then bolted across the arena in a mad frenzied gallop. One of the cart's wheels hit the discarded shield Jack had been using earlier, and this bounced one side of the Chariot up into the air. It lost its balance and tipped over, and its occupants were thrown clear across the sand. In seconds, as more chariots emerged from other gateways, all hell broke loose again, with Rose caught in the middle and Jack stuck up on top of the gate, watching helplessly.


	18. Becoming the Doctor

**Author Note: So here we are guys, the next chapter, almost straight after the last one, as promised...mind you I did have to make a few tweeks and alterations, blah blah blah, yaddah yaddah yaddah...etc, so it is a little bit late...but not much...only a little...I'm rambling now aren't I? Thought so...I'll shut up now and let you get on with the story.**

**Enjoy!**

**oOo**

As arrows zipped through the air towards them, Rose ducked and rolled, grabbed the Murmillo's sword and bolted through the open gateway.

"Jack, come on!" she yelled over her shoulder. Jack wasted no time in pursuing, and leapt lightly from the gate, landing next to the archer from the upturned chariot, who was trying to pursue Rose.

"I'll take that thanks," he said to the archer, wrenching the bow from his hands. Then he swung the end of the wooden weapon round, catching the archer full in his unprotected face. As the man howled and groaned in pain, holding his bleeding nose, Jack whipped a handful of arrows from the quiver around the man's belt, then followed Rose down the dark tunnel.

oOo

It didn't take him long to catch Rose, because by now she'd slowed to a walk and was checking every corner with her sword, using the shining silver as a mirror, before stepping round and into the new passage.

"Where are we going?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper as he joined her and slotted an arrow into the bow, ready.

"We're getting out of here," she told him as she checked yet another corner with the sword. "Then we're going to go home and pretend this never happened."

"What about the Krillitaines?" Jack asked as he followed her down a particularly dark tunnel.

"Yes, what about us?" a voice replied from the darkness up ahead, and Jack realised their mistake. They'd come back to the same tunnel where they'd met the aliens before. Rose lowered her sword, planted the tip of it in the gravel just infront of her feet and looked around with her hands on her hips.

"You got any lights in here?" she asked. Jack was taken back. Earlier on, Rose had been petrified of these creatures that he'd never heard of. Now she was addressing them like they were of no threat to her what-so-ever. What had made her change so rapidly?

But in answer to her question, flames erupted from a large fire infront of them, lighting up the whole area, and at last they could see what they were dealing with. It wasn't the same tunnel as before. This time it was a huge circular room, with multi-layered ledges all around the outside, a large stone pyre in the centre, and a fire over in one corner. All around the room, Krillitaines hung from the ceiling, fast asleep, or stood around the many levels of the room, watching them warily.

"Right that's better," Rose said, stepping forwards, leaving her sword where it was. "So...first of all...tell me what you are doing here. You shouldn't be here, after all."

"Neither should you. But we are just trying to survive," the leader of the Krillitaines said, stepping forwards to meet Rose. "We are out of our time, with no way of ever returning. If we do not feast, we will die."

"Right...so you're not trying to conquer anything this time then...no trying to become Gods...just survival?" Rose confirmed, and the leader nodded.

"Yes. Survival, Miss Tyler. Something I see you are very good at."

"Its a habit you learn when faced with danger every day of your life, I'm afraid," she shrugged. Then she looked around at the creatures. "How are you surviving then? I saw some of you at the arena earlier. Is that a regular haunt of yours?"

"Yes it is. Everyday there is some sort of event out in the arena...even if it is not a public one. The slaves and prisoners kept in cells under this very complicated network of corridors must be exercised every day, or they will not be fit to fight for the Emperor, and will die within seconds. This doesn't provide very good sport, I'm afraid. So they must be trained. And my brothers here are their trainers, so of course, there is always the odd...how shall we say...accident. People die here everyday, Miss Tyler. They provide our food."

"If you didn't...you know...what would happen to the bodies?"

"They would be thrown to the animals."

"Right, so either way, they would be..." she couldn't finish the sentence because it was too horrific to even think about. But the Krillitain leader understood and nodded. There was silence for a moment, and Jack moved forwards, making sure to keep Rose's stolen sword within reach.

"So what are we gonna do?" he whispered in her ear. She shivered slightly, but he wasn't sure if it was because of his sudden closeness to her, or because of the strong wind that had picked up even though they were underground.

"Leave this to me," Rose muttered under her breath. Then she turned back to the Krillitain leader. "If we let you live here, in peace...will you let us go, and promise that you'll never interfere with the timeline?"

"We couldn't interfere with it even if we wanted to," the Krillitain spat angrily.

"Why not?" Rose asked, confused.

"Because you'd stop us. I've heard of you...Rose Tyler, Alien Hunter. You're intelligence outshines even the gods themselves. I am in no doubt that you could destroy us in seconds."

This caught Rose off guard for a moment, but she quickly regained her composure before anyone noticed.

"You have such faith in my abilities. Its a shame I don't have such faith in you," She replied cooly, as she stared him right in the eyes. "So I'm warning you now. If you _ever _interfere with the time line...if you overthrow the Emperor and take his place, or kill an innocent person, or even so much as show your true forms in public...in the name of your God, and every other God out there in existence, so help me, I will kill _you._" She was deadly serious, and even Jack was a little afraid of her now, as she stood face to face with this hideous alien beast. Clearly something had changed her mind about them, because she no longer held the fear for them that she had earlier.

"Then you have my word," the Krillitain leader nodded at last, sensing that she truly meant every word. He extended a long spindly fingered hand, and Rose eyed it suspiciously. She hesitated for a few seconds, before extending her own hand and shaking his.

"Now that we're sorted, can we go?" Jack asked impatiently. He couldn't wait to get out of there. The whole place gave him creeps, and sent a shiver down his spine. Rose nodded, retreived her sword from the dirt, and stalked off down the corridor. Jack took one last look at the hideous aliens, then set off after her.

"That's it?" he asked when they were out of earshot. "You're just going to leave them here in Rome?"

"There's nothing else I can do," Rose muttered. "The only way I know of defeating them is with their own oil...and seeing as this lot don't have any of that, and neither do I, then I have no choice but to leave them."

"But you will return to stop them when you can?" Jack asked worriedly. The idea of leaving aliens in Ancient Rome didn't appeal to him very much. But to his surprise and horror, Rose shook her head.

"Like I told them, as long as they don't interfere with the time line, I'm going to leave them alone. They're doing the Romans a favour by disposing of the bodies, and all they're trying to do is survive, so why should we stop them? Not all aliens are bad Jack, you have to realise this. And the world isn't black or white either. There are so many shades of grey that need interpreting..."

Her voice trailed off and he expected her to say something else, but she didn't. She continued on in silence, and he finally figured out the cause of her sudden change in attitude.

"You're thinking of him, aren't you."

"Who?" she asked, paused mid-stride and glancing over her shoulder at him.

"The Doctor. Something made you realise that what you were doing was wrong, and that he wouldn't have done it. Something's happened."

Rose sighed and continued on, not saying a word. Her silence confirmed his thoughts, and he jogged to keep up with her.

"I'm right aren't I! You are thinking of him! You're doing what he'd do, because you think its the right thing to do!"

"So what if I am?!" she snapped suddenly, rounding on Jack furiously. "Is there a crime against doing the right thing or something? Coz the way you're actin', it seems like there is! And besides, someone has to be the Doctor. So if you've got a problem with that, then -"

"No! No, I'm just saying..." Jack cut in quickly, defending himself.

"Well don't...alright. Just don't," she warned, but her voice was quiet again...soft...sad.

"Rose, I'm sorry," he replied, genuinely regretting saying anything that could get her so upset. He took her hand in his and together they walked on down the tunnels.

oOo

A while later a thought crossed Jack's mind.

"I left my blaster up in the arena. Could we make a detour so I can go get it?" he said out loud, and Rose hastily shushed him then answered in a whisper.

"We're right outside the Emperor's box. Do you wanna get us caught again? Thrown back into that arena with no escape this time?"

"If it gets my blaster back," Jack replied petulantly.

"Jack, you're blaster's not in the arena," Rose told him.

"Then where is it?"

"Its nowhere. It doesn't exist anymore. Its gone ka-put!"

"It was destroyed?!" he exclaimed, and Rose hastily shushed him again as they broke into a jog to escape this part of the gigantic building. When they were sure they were safe again, Rose decided to explain.

"One of the chariots ran over it...bits were thrown everywhere. I guess it must have internally combusted or something coz some bits were even thrown as far as the gate we were by...well on top of, in some people's cases..."

"You started it," Jack replied defiantly. Then he looked alarmed. "So there's bits of alien technology scattered across tha arena and we're just going to leave it there?"

"Oh not this again," Rose groaned. "Yes, we're going to leave it there. By the time the Romans have collected all the bits, put them together and figured out what it is, Torchwood will be up and running again, and I'll send a team back here to collect it. Hey, if the Krillitaines are still here, I'll get the team to sort them out too. Hows that?"

"But that sonic blaster had some dangerous parts! What if they get hold of the sonic crystals?"

"You mean these sonic crystals?" Rose asked with a grin as she produced three tiny blue crystals from her pouch and showed Jack. "I'm not as naive as I seem Jack," she said, handing them to him. "The crystal holster was one of the bits that landed at my feet. I knew of its danger, so I grabbed it when I grabbed the sword, and fished these out."

"You..." Jack pointed at her, then grinned and pulled her into a huge hug. "...are one of _the _most amazing, brilliant...FANTASTIC people I have _ever_ met!"

"Thank you," Rose grinned as Jack let go and they continued to walk hand in hand together. "You're not so bad yourself."


	19. Elysium

**Author Note: Hey guys! Here's an extra long chapter to hopefully keep you going until the next chapter, which I haven't actually writen yet, but I will do soon. I know recent chapters have been leaving some questions un-answered, like why was Rose compatible with the droids? And if she's faced Krillitaines before, why was she initially scared of the Roman ones?**

**Well I'll try to answer as many questions as I can in the next few chapters, but if you think of anymore that I don't explain, please don't hesitate to ask me...I'll be more than happy to tell you why certain things happen, and may even let slip a few spoilers for what is coming up :-P**

**So as always, ENJOY!**

**oOo**

After successfully escaping the Colloseum, Rose and Jack had used the few coins Rose had left to buy some decent Roman clothing for them both, and then hire a horse and cart, which had taken them as far as a villa on the banks of the river Tiber, before the axle on the cart had broken. Seeing as it was almost night, the pair had decided to seek shelter at the villa and resume their journey in the morning. The villa was a simple, but tasteful structure, more like a rich farm than a magnificent mansion, but it was still grand to look at. Like everything else they'd seen after leaving the main city, this building was surrounded by hedges and flowers in delicate pastel shades. Vines crawled up the stonework, and the air smelt sweet and fresh, even in the evening breeze. Rose guessed this was because of the lack of pollution, which was yet to be invented.

"Ok, you've been to Ancient Rome before, so I'll let you do the talking," Jack said, interupting her thoughts, as they approached the massive wooden doors.

"Thanks," Rose muttered sarcastically. "But I actually spent most of my time in Rome standing very still and having pidgeons pooing on me."

"You what?!" Jack exclaimed, barely concealing his amusement.

"I was turned into a stone statue," Rose told him with an exaggerated roll of her eyes. "Do you think I'd do that sort of thing on purpose?"

"Well I wouldn't put anything past you...when you're around, anything seems possible," Jack grinned and she whacked him on the shoulder. Then the door was heaved open, and both had to force the smiles off their faces.

"Yes? Can I help you?" an elderly gentleman asked as he peered round the door at them. He had grey hair and a long, but neatly trimmed beard, with sharp brown eyes that glared at the two of them like they were dirt on the bottom of his shoe.

"Erm, please forgive us for this intrusion, but our cart has broken, and we were wondering if you could possibly help us?" Rose said politely, realising this man would not suffer fools gladly.

"Certainly not. This is a house of honour and decency, and I will not have the likes of you vagrants dirtying my land. Now get away with you, fiends. And don't come back!" He angrily waved a fist at them, and Jack and Rose beat a hasty retreat down the stone steps, back towards the cart. But even as they did so, another voice could be heard from inside.

"Father! They need our help! Don't be so rude, you foolish old man. Let them in!"

A woman, not much older than Rose, appeared next to the man, and said something to him that was too quiet for Rose or Jack to hear. After a moment, the man huffed and disappeared back into the building, and the woman beckoned for them to come back to the door. Rose and Jack re-approached the door hesitantly, and she smiled warmly at them.

"I am so sorry about my father. He's just very protective of his property...has been ever since my mother passed away last year."

"We're very sorry to hear that," Jack spoke this time. "And we're very sorry to intrude on you like this, but our cart has broken and - "

"Say no more, my friends. You are welcome to stay here for as long as you need. I am Aurelia Clemens Servillia and that old man you just had the misfortune to meet during one of his bad days, was my father, Marcus Clemens Servillian."

"I'm Rose Tyler, and this is Captain Jack Harkness," Rose replied, wondering what their names would sound like in Roman. Probably something like Rosa Tylerus and Jackis Harknessus. She had to fight very hard not to laught out loud at this thought, and instead turned her attention back to Aurelia, who was showing them into the villa.

oOo

The interior of the villa was just as simply wonderful and just as full of life and soft colour as was the yard out the front. There were no glaring lights, no beeping consoles or flickering computer screens, like Jack and Rose were used to. The furniture was plush and comfortable, the floors made of cool stone or covered in soft woven rugs. It was all so welcoming and pleasant that Jack decided there and then that if he'd grown up in this place, he'd never have left.

The next introduction was a little uncomfortable for the pair of them, but only for a moment, as Aurelia introduced them to her brother, Marcus Jnr. Being the eldest of Marcus' children, Marcus Jnr had inherited his father's name.

He was a strong shouldered man with a face that was plain and strong and compassionate all at once. A scar ran across his left eye, but this was the only indication that he'd ever seen battle. He wore his brown hair short, but still it was a bit out of place, a bit...comfortable. Aurelia told them that he had once been a Gladiator in service of the Emperor himself, and had been freed earlier that year.

Then the pair of them were shown to a comfy sitting room type area where they were invited to recline on couches around a roaring log fire. Aurelia explained that Rose and Jack had missed dinner, and she was most appologetic, even offering to make them something if they'd wished. But Rose had lost her appetite after her talk with the Krilitaines earlier, and Jack refused to eat without Rose, so they didn't mind. Once Marcus Snr and Marcus Jnr had joined them around the fire, Marcus Jnr began his tale of life as a Gladiator.

He'd been caught stealing bread for his wife and daughter, and imprisoned late one winter three years ago. His wife and daughter had not survived the cruel winter, and when he'd heard, Marcus had almost lost the will to live. But when he'd been forced to become a Gladiator to pay for his crimes, he discovered what it was like to live again.

"The Colloseum. Oh you should see the Colloseum my friends," he told them proudly as the last few rays of sunlight from outside died, and the flames were the only lighting left. They flickered and danced across Marcus' face, highlighting his evident pleasure at telling this tale, by giving him a spark in his eyes. "Fifty thousand Romans - " he continued, "- watching every movement of your sword. Willing you to make that killer blow. The silence before you strike...and the noise afterwards. It rises. Rises up like a storm. As if you were the Thunder God himself." He paused, and looked around at them all. Aurelia and Marcus must have heard this story so many times before, and yet they were listening with just as much attentiveness as if they were hearing it for the first time, like Rose and Jack.

"But you won your freedom?" Rose prompted after a moment, completely captivated by his story, wanting to know more.

"Earlier this year, the Emperor presented me with a rudis." At the quizical stares he receives from Jack and Rose, he decided to elaborate. "Its just a wooden sword. A symbol of your freedom. He touched me on the shoulder, and I was free."

"You knew the Emperor?" Jack asked, not sure whether to believe him or not.

"I did not know him. He simply touched me on the shoulder once. But he told me I was the best fighter he'd seen in a long time...I wasn't the best because I killed quickly. I was the best because I won the crowd. Win the crowd and you win your freedom. " Marcus paused again, and looked to Rose and Jack once more. "I can tell you have seen recent battle...both of you. You have that look in your eyes. Is your tale like mine?"

"No," Jack and Rose said in unison, then looked at each other and smiled shyly.

"No," Rose repeated after a few seconds. "It was a misunderstanding. We should never have been there in the first place."

"Thats what I said to myself everyday," Marcus sighed. There was another long pause in which Rose had to stifle several yawns that had tried to catch her off guard, and then Aurelia stood.

"You must be tired, if you have indeed seen recent battle," she said, smiling gently at them, obviously having noticed Rose's inner battle with her fatigue. "I'll show you to your room. I'm afraid we only have one spare room, so you will have to share, if thats alright?"

"Thats fine. Thank you," Rose cut in before Jack could protest. He scowled at her, but she gave him a warning look that told him not to say anything, and stood, brushing down the hem of the delicate pastel blue dress she'd bought in the market. Jack stood too, and stretched a little. They bade both Marcus' goodnight and followed Aurelia through the beautifully decorated rooms and passageways, upstairs to the only available room left. There was only one bed in the tiny room, and as soon as Aurelia had left to fetch more blankets, Rose leaped onto it.

"Bagsy I get the bed," she exclaimed before Jack could protest.

"And where do I go?" Jack asked. At that moment, Aurelia returned with another mound of blankets, and handed them to Jack.

"I'm sorry for the lack of beds, but like I said earlier, this is the only room we have spare, and this is the only bed we have spare too." Jack thanked her anyway, not wanting to seem ungrateful, and she bade them both goodnight, before leaving them alone together.

"You're not coming on here with me," Rose said firmly when she caught Jack eying up the bed.

"Why not?" he whined.

"Well for a start, its too small. Plus I hardly know you. Sharing a bed would be too creepy."

"True," he agreed. "Which is why I'm gonna do this."

He dumped his blanket on the floor, then launched himself at Rose, giving her a gentle but firm shove that sent her tumbling off the bed. Then he leapt onto the bed, and layed with his head resting in his hands, one leg crossed over the other in a very relaxed manner.

Rose sat up, fought her way out from the mess of blankets she'd landed in, and glared at him.

"Oi! What the hell are you doing!" she snapped angrily, but Jack just looked at her and burst out laughing.

"What?" she asked, frustrated.

"If your gonna get angry with me, at least try sorting your hair out first," he grinned, and Rose frowned, reaching up a hand to flatten her mess of golden hair. Then she stood up, threw her blanket at him and stormed out of the room.

"Rose? Rose! I'm sorry!" Jack called after her, then groaned. That girl needed to learn some serious anger management, He was just gathering up enough energy to get out of bed again when Rose came back in with a goblet of water.

"Out. Now," she said firmly, holding the goblet over his head.

"You wouldn't," Jack replied confidently as he stared up at her hovering hand.

"Wouldn't I?" she replied, tipping the cup a little.

"Nope," he replied, although she was pleased to see he'd lost a little of his confidence now.

"We'll see," she shrugged, and as she did so, she tipped the cup a little more so that a single drop fell from it onto Jack's forehead. He blinked in surprise and shook his head to remove the offending droplet, just as another one landed right between his eyes.

"Stop it," he cried as drop after drop slowly landed on his forehead, rhythmically.

"Get out of my bed and I'll stop," Rose replied as she continued to slowly drip the water on him.

"Your bed? I don't see your name on it," Jack replied as he shook his head again.

More drops, each with regular intervals that were just long enough for Jack to shake his head, or wipe the water off with his sleeve before another one fell and replaced it.

"You been researchin' water torture by any chance?" Jack asked, his voice becoming increasingly more agitated as Rose continued.

"Nope. Just happened to catch an episode of Mythubusters the other day."

"The episode about water torture?" Jack cringed, getting more and more frustrated.

"Maybe," Rose replied with a smirk. She tipped the cup ever so slightly so that the water dripped faster, and now Jack didn't have time to get rid of each drop before the next one hit.

"Stop please!" he cried, almost hysterically, trying to grab the cup from her. But she simply lifted her hand and continued.

"You know what to do," she told him.

"Alright! Alright!" Jack literally threw himself from the bed in his attempt to escape the torture, and Rose nodded, satisfied that she'd done her job. She set the cup on the floor and climbed into the bed, pulling the covers around her.

"I knew there was a reason why I watched that episode," she said to no-one in particular as she settled down and made herself comfy. Jack lay on the floor cursing and rubbing his forehead furiously with his sleeve, convinced he still had water on him.

By the time he had recovered enough to fight back, however, Rose was fast asleep in the bed, the events of that day finally catching up with her. He hadn't the heart to wake her now, nor the energy, so he just gathered up the other blanket and found a spot on the floor by the window, where he settled down and soon joined Rose in a peaceful sleep that lasted right through till late the next morning.

oOo

When Rose woke the next morning, she could hear the busy hustle and bustle of life in the villa, as the slaves worked hard out in the yard, fixing their cart, or cleaning the kitchen, or doing other chores, and she could also hear voices on the balcony outside their room. Sitting up in bed and stretching, she noticed a slight twinge in her left shoulder. That must have been from all the action yesterday, she decided. Unraveling herself from the blanket, she saw that the spare clothes she'd bought yesterday had been left out for her, so she quickly changed and went to explore. After all, it looked like Jack had started the tour without her.

The entrance to the balcony was in the next room along, and as Rose wandered outside, she found Jack and Marcus Jnr deep in conversation about something. As she appproached, she discovered that they were talking about life as a Gladiator again. It seemed that Jack wanted to know more about Marcus' time as a Gladiator, and Marcus had been only too happy to oblige by telling him his tale again, in much more detail this time.

Not wanting to disturb them, she quietly turned to leave.

"Don't go."

Slightly surprised, Rose glanced back and saw Jack and Marcus had turned to look at her.

"I didn't want to disturb you," she said appologetically.

"Your presence is soothing, young lady," Marcus replied with a slight bow of his head. "It has been a long time since someone as spirited and youthful as you has graced this part of the land. I would say the same about my sister, but I'm afraid she's been forced to grow up too suddenly and doesn't know what it's like to be young anymore. Its not her fault though, really. But yes...you're very soothing...very soothing."

_Thats nice, _Rose thought, honoured. _But I don't think I can just stand here and be soothing for very long. _"Its alright, I'll go," she assured them, turning to leave again.

"No, really. I'll go," Marcus objected politely, moving away from Jack and towards the wooden steps that led down into the garden. "I need to find my father anyway. He's supposed to be coming to market with me today."

As Marcus left, Rose joined Jack, leaning her crossed forearms on the stone wall and staring out at the wondrous view of flower beds and vines in the garden below, the shimmering blue lake beyond them, and the mountains rising in the distance, all blue and purple in the morning light.

"You didn't have to send him away," Rose said after a moment, although she didn't turn to look at Jack.

"Whatever gave you impression that I did?" Jack asked, trying to feign innocence as he joined her in leaning on the wall.

"Your eyes," Rose replied matter-of-factly, and Jack found that he couldn't argue with that, so he decided to change topic slightly.

"Well, this view was just too perfect for you to miss. Marcus see's this everyday, but you don't. I didn't want you to be left out."

"It is beautiful, isn't it," she agreed, watching as the slight breeze made the surface of the water ripple ever so slightly, now and then.

"Mmmm. I believe you could call it Elysium," Jack murmered, and Rose looked at him quizically. "Never heard of Elysium?" he asked, surprised. She shook her head, so he decided to elaborate.

"Elysium means Heaven or Paradise. In Greek mythology, the Greeks believed it was the home of the blessed after death. They also called it the Elysium Fields."

"So your saying we're in heaven?" Rose asked, slightly confused.

"No, I'm saying we're in paradise," Jack laughed. "Elysium also means an ideal and blissful place, like here." He gestured towards the gardens and lake with a vague hand gesture, and Rose finally understood. With a satisfied nod of her head, she went back to watching as, down in the garden below, Marcus Jnr helped his father with a rather large load of vegetables that they were carrying to another cart a little further off to the left, near the path leading to the front of the house.

"We should get going soon," Rose sighed, lifting one hand to rest her chin on. This tiny movement made her shoulder twinge again and she winced slightly.

"You're hurt?" Jack asked, concerned. Rose sighed and looked at him.

"Its nothing, honestly. I probably pulled it yesterday when I was hanging onto the gate."

"Does it hurt?" he asked gently, reaching out a hand to stroke her bare shoulder. The dress that she was wearing now was again a one shouldered item, held up by the same broach she'd used yesterday. Jack nearly pulled back when he realised what he was doing, but since Rose didn't object, he let himself stay close to her. She seemed a bit tentative, a bit scared, but she wasn't pulling away.

"Now and then," she replied, answering his question at last. "But I'll live."

"I'm sure you will," he nodded. "You're a survivor."

He continued to stare at her intensely until she turned to face him at last, the sunlight giving her cheeks a delicate glow. In this light, she looked so pure, so beautiful...so magical, he decided. Magical...he liked that word. It suited Rose. Perhaps it could be is new favourite word.

_I'll have to use it more often...as much as I can_, he decided.

"We should get going soon," Rose repeated, interupting his thoughts. "We've intruded on these good people long enough."

"Just a bit longer. they won't mind," Jack replied gently, staring deep into her eyes. "Its just so beautiful here...magical." There was his favourite word again.

"Magical," Rose repeated quietly, as though she were testing the word out to see if it was right for the situation. "Yes. Everything here is magical."

She agreed? That was good. It made him favour the word even more. However, as he looked into her eyes now, it seemed to Jack that she wanted to look away. He smiled gently - reassuringly - and to his relief, she didn't. Instead she started falling deeper into his eyes, and he inturn, started falling into hers. His smile turned into a slight grin and he moved even closer, so that now, they were actually rubbing shoulders, his hand still stroking hers softly..

"Did you know, the mountains are reflecting in your eyes?" he asked quietly, moving forwards as he spoke, brushing his lips against hers in a soft and delicate kiss. It seemed like time had stopped, and the moment seemed to last an eternity. He could happily have stayed here, in this dream world with Rose, forever.

But then Rose pulled back suddenly, as if waking from a dream. This abrupt movement brought Jack back to his senses as well and he let her go, moving away slightly.

"I shouldn't have done that," she muttered. "I'm with another man...a good man...this can't happen. I'm sorry Jack." She looked away out over the lake again.

"No, I'm the one who should be sorry," Jack replied. Well, he wasn't sorry that he'd kissed her - his lips still tingled from the pressure of hers, and he could still taste the tiny hint of her cherry lip-balm - but he was sorry that she was distressed. "Perhaps we should make a move soon. The ship must be just the other side of that mountain over there. If we go now, we might be able to reach it before sunset."

Rose said nothing, she was still looking out over the lake, careful to avoid eye-contact with him now. But she nodded, and Jack decided that now would be a good time to retreat, while his dignity and their friendship was stil intact. He left Rose alone on the balcony, enjoying the view, and started off down towards the kitchen in search of Aurelia.

oOo

Despite her determination to forget about the kiss, Rose found that she couldn't. The memory kept returning at odd moments during the day when Jack looked at her - and sometimes when he didn't. She should, she thought, have been annoyed. But she couldn't be annoyed when Jack was in such an exuberantly cheerful mood. The event out on the balcony hadn't dulled his spirit at all, and he was carrying on like nothing had happened. If only she could forget about it so easily and move on too.

But then, as she sat in the orchard of the villa later that morning, and watched Jack and Marcus hitch up a fresh horse to their newly fixed cart, she couldn't pretend not to see it anymore. Jack _did _care for her. He _did _have feelings for her, and the more time she spent with him, especially here in this perfect place, the more she cared -

_Stop that, _she told herself firmly. _You have a boyfriend. A kind, loving, wonderful boyfriend. You can't do this to him. It wouldn't be fair. _But no matter how firm she was with herself, it didn't get rid of that empty feeling in her stomach, or keep her from feeling...happy when she saw him looking over at her. And it didn't erase the memory of that kiss either. What was she to do?

oOo

Towards midday, they were ready to continue their journey once again, and both thanked Aurelia for her kindness and hospitality.

"I only wish there was some way we could repay you," Rose said guiltily as Jack helped her up into the cart.

"Nonsense!" Aurelia replied, dismissing this guilt with a wave of her hand. "You don't need to repay anything. It was a pleasure having you both here. You certainly livened up the place a little, and its been a while since anyone's done that, so I shall be happy to settle with that as my payment. Now go on, both of you. Of you go, before your families get worried. But I do hope our paths will cross again someday."

"I'm sure they will," Rose told her as Jack joined her in the cart and picked up the reigns, making a light clicking noise with his tongue. The horse pulled away slowly and set off down the gravel road, and as she looked back, Rose saw Aurelia waving. She waved back until they rounded a corner and the villa was lost from sight.


	20. Rose Returns

**Author Note: Hey guys! I'm back with another chapter, and guess what? I've completely forgotten what I was gonna write in this author's note!**

**Ah well, I'm sure you won't mind if I just say enjoy...will you? No, thought not...lol.**

**ENJOY!**

**oOo**

As Jack landed the remains of his battered ship in the grounds of Tyler Manor some time later, Rose could tell that something was wrong. A police van was parked outside - its lights still flashing and all its doors wide open - the front door looked like it had been kicked in, and screams and angry yells could be heard from inside the house, along with the odd smash or crash.

"Come on," Rose said to Jack as she unfastened the safety belt he'd advised her to wear while they landed.

"Sounds like the party started without us," Jack replied as he followed her out of the ship and across the lawn to the front door.

Inside they found Scooti wrestling furiously with two uniformed police officers in the hallway, while Mickey was sprinting up the stairs after three more, Pete had one pinned against the wall in the corner, and Jack Jnr was fending one off with a fire extinguisher, letting off jets of foam each time the officer got too near. Elsewhere in the house, Jackie was yelling furious insults and Ida and Zach were calling to each other for help.

"What the hell is going on here?" Rose cried, horrified. No-one seemed to hear her, or even acknowledge her existence, which made her even madder. If there was one thing she couldn't stand, it was being ignored.

"Right, fine," She muttered, and Jack saw she had her fists clenched. Second guessing what she was gonna do next, he charged at one of the guards fighting Scooti, and in perfect unison, the two guards on either side of the poor girl were knocked to the floor, sporting heavy nose bleeds.

"Nice one," Scooti replied, relieved as Jack helped her to stand upright again. Then she noticed Rose, who smiled a reassuring smile at her friend, before reaching down, plucking the radio off one of the guards and pressing the button, holding her phone up to the speaker. A loud piercing shriek echoed all around the house as the signal of the mobile interfered with the radio. After doing this for about five seconds, Rose relented and took the phone away, then listened.

Silence. No-one moved, no-one spoke, no-one did anything. Then slowly, one by one, all eyes in the immediate area turned to look at her.

"Right, thank you," Rose finally said once she was sure she had everyone's undivided attention. "Now can someone please explain to me, what the hell is going on here?"

Silence. No-one moved, no-one spoke, no-one did anything.

"Anyone?"

Silence. No-one moved, no-one spoke, no-one did anything.

"Ok fine," she said at last, moving the phone back up towards the radio again. But before she'd even moved the phone halfway, everyone was animated once more, darting forwards and all screaming a unanimous "NO!"

Rose smiled slightly, pleased her actions had had the desired effect, and tucked the phone safely in her pocket.

"So come on then," she said at last, hands on her hips, the radio still grasped in one of them.

"Perhaps you could first explain how...how you're...how..." Pete started.

"How I what?" Rose prompted, but Pete just looked like he'd seen a ghost. He was deathly pale and even appeared to be shaking a little. As she looked at Scooti, she saw pretty much the same reaction. Frowning, she turned to Jack Jnr to see his reaction. He was just standing, mouth open wide, eyes if possible, even wider. Then he stepped forwards slowly and poked her in the chest.

"Ow!" Rose gasped as he jabbed her hard. "What was that for?"

"Are you a ghost?" he asked suspiciously.

"Ghost? What? Huh?" she asked confused.

"Are you a ghost?"

"No...what sort of a question is that?" Rose asked her little brother, very confused by his odd behaviour.

"If you're not a ghost, then what are you? A hologram? An apparition? A figment of my imagination? A mass hallucination? An alien in disguise? A Slitheen? What are you?"

"Jack, how do you know all these big words?" Rose replied, amazed.

"Don't change the conversation. Just tell me, what are you?"

"I'm me, Jack. Just me. Not a hologram or an apparition or whatever else you might think I am. I'm just me. Rose Tyler. Your sister." She knelt down as she spoke so that she was at the same eye level as him. "What's all this about Jack?"

"How can you be real?" he asked quietly. "Your dead."

"I'm not Jack. I'm right here, see?" she replied, concerned now, for there was genuine fear in her little brother's eyes.

"You died. You can't be real."

"I didn't die Jack. What makes you say that?"

"Someone from Torchwood told Mummy and Daddy you'd been killed. Death by Torchwood, they said."

"Who did?" Rose asked, growing even more concerned now. What was going on?

"Some woman. Cassandra something. She had a funny name. But she said you were dead."

"When was this Jack?" Rose asked quietly. She had an awful feeling she knew who he was talking about now.

"About a year ago," Jack replied quietly. "You went missing and then she turned up and said you were dead. When you didn't come home again, we thought she must have been telling the truth." Tears were starting to fall down Jack's cheeks now, and Rose felt so sorry for him. Someone had really messed with his young life by trying to remove her from the equation, and now he was confused and scared. He didn't know what to think.

"Jack listen to me, ok?" she told him in what she hoped was a calm, reassuring voice. "I'm not dead. If I was just a ghost, would I be bleeding?" She held up her split knuckle from the rather hard punch she'd given the officer, and showed him the beads of crimson liquid that had formed around the split skin. Jack just stared for a moment, then reached out a tentative hand and touched the wound. Rose winced in pain, but said nothing, and when he removed his finger, he saw that some of the blood had transferred onto his skin too.

"You could be an alien in disguise. Aliens bleed."

Smiling at her little brother's hidden ingenuity, Rose thought for a moment. What would she do in this situation? Wait, she _had _been in this situation once before. At the time she'd been just as disbelieving...just as accusing towards the Doctor after his shocking regeneration, so she understood how her brother was feeling. But what had the Doctor done to convince her?

Of course, he'd told her something that only the Doctor could know!

"Jack, if I wasn't your real sister, then how would I know that your favourite movie is Batman, and you have every Batman figurine possible, except the limited edition blue one with the gold wings, which you convinced me to buy off ebay for you because you had enough pocket money saved to pay me back if I did? Only you and I ever knew about that, because you swore me to secrecy so that Mum and Dad wouldn't find out. You'd been grounded at the time and weren't allowed any special treats from anyone, but I gave in and secretly bought it for you." There was another long silence for a moment as Jack studied her closely.

"Rosie?" he asked uncertainly after a while.

"Hello," she replied gently, and then she smiled as realisation finally dawned on him.

"Hello!" he exclaimed in pure delight, throwing himself at her and crushing her in a hug. The impact of his body colliding with hers sent her falling backwards onto the marble floor and as she and her brother landed in a crumpled heap, they both burst out laughing. "Its you! Its you! I knew you weren't dead! I knew it!"

"Steady on!" Rose laughed as he gripped her even tighter, like he never wanted to let her go again.

"I've missed you so much!" he mumbled into her shoulder as she forced herself to sit upright again.

"Well I'm back now, so everything's going to be fine," she assured him as he finally tore himself away from her. Then he frowned and slapped her hard on the shoulder. Luckily it wasn't her bad one.

"You just told Dad about our secret!"

Rose looked at him, stunned for a moment, and then she laughed again and gently lifted him off her lap so that she could stand up.

"I'm sorry Jack. Can you forgive me?"

"Its alright. Its not your fault that you told Dad." Jack replied, but Rose frowned.

"I meant can you forgive me for leaving you for a whole year."

"Oh, yeah that probably wasn't your fault either," Jack shrugged, and Rose laughed at his suddenly laid back attitude. As far as Jack was concerned, his sister was back so now life could go on as normal. Rose took one last look at her little brother, then turned to regard everyone else in the hall.

"So, where were we?" she asked brightly. "Oh yes...I've been missing a year, someone tells you I'm dead and you believe them, then the police raid our house for what appears to be no reason what-so-ever. Please forgive me for being more than slightly confused by this, but can someone tell me what exactly is going on here? Starting with why the house is being raided by the men in black."

"I think I can," the Officer in charge said, shrugging out of Pete's grip and walking over to her. "I'm DCI Anthony Waltham, and I have here a warrant for the immediate arrest and detainment of Scootori Manista, Jonathan Maynard Jefferson, Ida Scott, Zachary Cross Flane, Tobias Zed and Daniel Bartock on suspicion of grand theft." He announced as he produced a sheet of paper and handed it to her. Rose studied the paper for a moment and then screwed it up and threw it in the bin by the door, much to everyone's surprise.

"The warrant's not valid," she informed him, almost haughtily. "Because they are employees of Torchwood and seeing as Torchwood are seperate from the Government, outside the police and beyond the United Nations, you have no authority to restrain, constrain or direct any member of this organisation without the approval of the Head of Torchwood, or in his absence, the acting Head. Considering the fact that the Head of Torchwood was trying to stop you, I doubt you did seek his approval first, which makes these arrests even more illegal than the crimes you are trying to arrest them for. Am I right?"

The silence that followed confirmed Rose's suspicions and she gave the officer a withering look, holding out his radio to him. He stared at her for a moment in alarm, knowing that she was right, and then took the radio and called off his team.

"Good decision," Rose told him as he supervised the evacuation of his team from the building. He gave her a sarcastic grin and climbed into the cab.

"We'll be back Miss Tyler! Just you wait!"

"I'm sure you will, Officer," Rose retorted, matching his sarcasm as she flashed her psychic paper about. "But all the time I have this, there's nothing you can do about it!"

She didn't relax, however, until the van was turning out of the gate at the end of the drive. Then she turned and strode back into the house to be greeted with a rather surprising round of applause from everyone who had all gathered down in the hall to find out what all the fuss was about.

"You go girl!" Mickey exclaimed, giving her a high five.

"I can't believe your alive," Scooti cried ecstatically, voicing everyone's thoughts. Then she gave Rose a huge hug. Rose gently shrugged her friend off and grinned.

"You can't get rid of me that easily," she replied. And then she caught Jackie's eye, and immediately felt the guilt rise up inside her. "Mum, I'm so sorry," she muttered, moving across to Jackie, who was standing with Pete in the furthest corner of the hall. Jackie just shrugged.

"Its not the first time you've done it to me. I'm used to it now," she replied, although she refused to look Rose in the eye.

"I really am sorry," Rose muttered, wounded that she'd obviously hurt Jackie so much that now, her own mother couldn't even look her in the eye. "If there was anything I could do...if there was anything I could have done to warn you...I'm so sorry."

"I know," Jackie sighed at last, forcing herself to look Rose in the eye. She could see the genuine remorse and regret in her daughter's beautiful brown eyes, and suddenly the anger seemed to dissipate, and was replaced with relief. "Come here," she smiled, pulling Rose into a loving hug that only a mother can give. Rose relished in the warmth and comfort of her mother's embrace, and soon the tension between the pair of them had vanished.

"So tell me what I've missed," she said after a moment, pulling away to address the small crowd.

"Only if you tell us what you've been up to, and who this fella is," Scooti replied, giving Jack a playful, almost flirtatious look. Rose had a sudden surge of jealousy, which she quickly controlled before anyone could realise, and nodded.

"Of course. Sorry Jack, you must think I'm really rude, not to introduce you to everyone."

"Not at all," Jack grinned, ignoring Scooti's continuous glances in his direction. "You had more important things to deal with."

"Yeah well...I've dealt with them now, so shall we?" Rose asked, indicating the living room, with its comfy chairs and Pete's beloved drinks cabinet. After all the excitement of the past few days, she could really use a drink. It seemed like the others were thinking along the same lines, because no-one complained when Pete opened a bottle of his finest champagne to celebrate Rose's return.

"So, after I climbed up into the trap door," Rose began at last, re-telling her story in as much detail as she could.


	21. Farewells And A Gift Wrapped Box

**Author note: Hey guys! I'm sorry its been so long, and I'm sorry this is such a short chapter, but unfortunately time has not been on my side recently. Still, I'll soon be back on track...oh well.**

**Ooh, and I've just remembered...see if you can work out who the mysterious figures are towards the end of this chapter. It shouldn't be too hard, but lets see if you can work out how they got there! I bet none of you can! There we go, a challenge for you...work out who it is, and how!**

**Enjoy!**

**oOo**

Four things happened in the week following Rose's return.

The first was that work on Torchwood Tower 2 finally finished and the organization was officially back up and running again.

The second was that Rose and Darren split after one and a half years together. Darren had phoned Rose from Torchwood in Cardiff on Tuesday night, after hearing about her return. They had a very lengthy talk that kept them both awake long into the night, and both decided it was the right thing to do. Rose wasn't angry that he'd left her, because now that she understood what had been going on in her absence, she knew it wasn't his fault. If anything, it was hers. She'd had the chance to phone him on Jack's ship before they'd crashed in Rome, but she'd chosen not to, because she'd been too caught up in her own selfish emotions to even think about anyone else. She told Darren this, and expected him to be mad at her, but he wasn't either. He seemed to understand, telling her that it had never really worked between them, no matter how hard they tried to pretend it had, so perhaps it was better this way. Rose couldn't disagree, but she hated the thought of losing Darren, so he promised her that any time she ever needed him, all she had to do was call. After a tearful farewell, Rose hung up on her ex, not realising this was to be the last she would ever see or hear from him.

The third was that Rose and Captain Jack had a major row about them landing in the wrong time...again. After her return home, Rose had been so worried about her family and how they were, that the thought never crossed her mind to be angry with Jack. But later on - admittedly after she'd had a few too many top-ups of Pete's precious champagne - she challenged Jack about his poor navigational skills, and after a long, heated and very noisy row, the two parted company and went to bed giving each other the silent treatment.

This stubborn silence lasted through Tuesday, but by Wednesday, Rose was so distressed by her break-up with Darren that Jack took pity on her and apologised. Rose apologised too, and after a friendly hug, the two were back on speaking terms again.

And the fourth thing to happen that week was that all the Sanctuary Base crew - except Scooti - returned home through the time window Mickey and Pete had found. After all, Ida and Mr Jefferson had families that they were missing, Zach wanted to report his findings to his boss, and Danny and Toby decided that Earth 2015 wasn't to their liking after all, because they'd been stabbed by a holly bush, punched, involved in more than one fight, almost been kidnapped by the police - who would no doubt continue to hunt them if they stayed, and chased endlessly by Jack Jnr, Suki, Ood and Scooti the kitten.

"Give me an impossible planet any day," Danny had half joked as he and Toby said farewell to Rose, who had come to see them off at the time window - seeing as they needed her psychic paper incase anyone tried to stop them.

"Good luck, both of you," she replied, laughing as Toby had to climb on Danny's shoulder's to reach the hole in the ceiling, and accidentally kicked his nose.

"Take care of Scooti for us, won't you?" Toby asked from Danny's shoulders, suddenly concerned for his friend's welfare.

"I will, I promise," Rose told him sincerely. "She'll be treated like one of the family."

That greatly put their minds at rest because they'd both seen how Rose's family cared for each other, and despite their rather loud, argumentative nature sometimes, it was clear they all loved each other very much - even Pete, who was very reluctant to admit Rose was his daughter once upon a time. Now he was proud to call her his daughter...and perhaps one day he'd be saying the same about Scooti too.

"Thank you Rose...for everything," Danny said gratefully as Toby finally pulled himself up into the gap where the others were waiting. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too," Rose replied as he suddenly ran to her and crushed her in an unexpected hug. "Take care of yourselves, yeah?"

"We will," Danny promised as he went back over to the hole and Toby and Zach pulled him up into it. The whole crew - minus Scooti - looked back at her for a moment, before the hatch shut and they were gone forever.

_Well, not forever, _Rose told herself as she sighed and turned towards the exit. _As long as those windows are still open, they can come back. And I can't close them until Jack's ship is repaired, so that might be a while yet._

As she left the building and wandered back through the busy streets of London, a light wind picked up and dropped just as suddenly as it had started. Rose thought nothing of it as she waited at a pedestrian crossing for the lights to stop the busy traffic. Then, as a big red bus passed by, she could have sworn a reflection in its window flashed a few times, and as the bus changed gears, its engine wheezed and groaned, but again this was nothing unusual in London, so Rose thought nothing of that either and continued her journey back towards the edge of the city, and Tyler Manor.

Crossing Westminster Bridge, Rose paused and looked out over the Thames, at the London Eye. Then she turned and leant against the stone wall while she looked up at Big Ben and the houses of Parliament. A little further down the way, she'd find Henriks department store, and about twenty minutes further down, she'd find the Powell Estate.

But all that was her old life, and she had a new one now...a better one...one that gave her a purpose in life. Turning to look behind her, she could see the flashing light of the newly re-built Torchwood Tower beckoning to her, and decided to go and take a look at her new office. After all, she had nothing better to do, and Pete and Mickey were supposed to be showing Jack round, so maybe she could meet them there and resume work? It might take her mind off Jack and her very confusing feelings towards him. She didn't love him, as such...but then he reminded her so much of the Doctor, and she had loved the Doctor, so did that mean she _did _love Jack after all?

Digging her hands into her pockets, she turned around and strode purposefully towards Torchwood Tower, not even noticing two figures hiding in the crowd of eager tourists on her left.

oOo

Her new office was exactly the same as her old one...same size, same shape, same blinding white walls, same frosted glass window in the door, engraved with _Rose Tyler: Deputy Head Of Torchwood and Head of Earth Defence. _Underneath that was the familiar Torchwood logo - the T shape made of lots of small hexagons - and in big bold letters **TORCHWOOD.**

"Hmmm, no-one will ever guess what I do here then," she muttered sarcastically as she examined the window. It was awful, and she hated it, but what choice did she have now? It was already installed. Perhaps she could accidentaly break it and ask for a new, less _in-your-face _design?

_Somehow I don't think Dad would appreciate that,_ she decided. _I guess i'll just have to live with it._

Then something on her new desk caught her eye. It was a small blue box tied with gold ribbon, and in the ribbon a bit of paper had been carefully tucked. The box was no bigger than a small tin pencil case, and when she shook it gently, something rolled about inside, like a pen.

"Not more stationary," she groaned, pulling out the note and unfolding it. "Especially not if it's got Torchwood emblazoned all over it."

_Rose,_

_Captain Jack was in one of our workshops earlier, examining some of the bits we managed to salvage from the last tower, and he was struck with an idea. I helped him, of course, and together we made this. I didn't think it would work, to be honest, but when he put some blue crystal in, it worked! I was amazed!_

_Well, I hope you like it, and like Jack says, it'll be more use that his blaster because all the special features on his really drained the battery. But yours is a more economical design, or something, apparently, so it should technically last forever. I know its like the one he had, but thats because its the best design to use. Jack's programmed a few settings in already to get you started, and written them down for you but he said that you should do the rest so that you get to know how it works. After all, it is yours now. I hope this is ok with you, and I'll see you at home later._

_Hugs_

_Mickey_

_xxx_

"What on earth is he going on about?" Rose frowned, dropping the note onto the desk and undoing the ribbon. "Like the one who had? What design? What blue crystals?" Then she removed the lid of the box, and suddenly she understood. "Oh..._that_ design..."

Pulling out a long thin tube from the box and unwrapping the tissue paper from around it, she found herself holding a sonic screwdriver - almost exactly the same as the Doctor's, except that this one had a pale blue ceramic tube, instead of cream and the metal work was gold instead of silver. She turned it over carefully in her hands to examine every angle, and smiled sadly, as she remembered all the times the Doctor had used his - which had been quite alot, mostly to open or lock doors. Then curiosity overcame her sadness, and she turned to the door, aiming the screwdriver at the lock. Pressing the button, she smiled in delight as the end glowed blue, it whirred and buzzed for a moment, and then the lock clicked. Releasing the button to stop the device, she strode over to the door and pulled the handle down. The door was locked. Glancing at the bit of paper that Jack had scribbled all the settings down on, she switched it to a different setting and aimed the screwdriver at the lock again. She gave it another short blast then tried the door. This time it opened.

"Fantastic!" she exclaimed as she tucked it into her jeans pocket with her psychic paper. Then she glanced at all the other settings Jack had set it to.

_Open locks - 1A_

_Close locks - 2A_

_Scan organic materials - 3B_

_Scan inorganic materials - 4B_

_Interfere with signals - 5A_

_Track a certain target or signal - 6C_

_Access restricted computer networks (this will work on anything from computers to mobile phones...even cash machines wink wink) 7D_

_Cut soft materials (paper, fabric, rope, etc) 8A_

_Cut hard materials (wood, glass, metal etc) 8B_

_Undo seals and joins (in metal work, etc) 9D_

_Undo screws and nails 9F_

_Hope this helps,_

_Lots of love,_

_Jack_

_xxx_

"Blimey!" Rose muttered as she read the list, choosing to ignore Jack's message at the bottom. "I don't think there's anything else I could add to it. But I'd better keep this safe for now. Just until I'm familiar with each setting." She tucked the paper in her pocket too, and then decided that she'd pay a visit to her father's office to see if she could persuade him to let her change the colour of her walls. This new white was hurting her eyes and giving her a headache, which was the last thing you needed if you were going to save the world...or at least planning to.

As she stepped into the lift and used her sonic screwdriver to take her up to the next level (because she wanted to test out her new gadget) the second lift in this half of the building decended the other way, towards the ground floor, to collect two figures who'd just bluffed their way into the building.


	22. Smith and Jones

**Author Note: Hey guys! Here's the next chapter for you, and I hope you enjoy it. You find out the identity of the two mystery characters now, but I'm sure you all guessed who it would be anyways. I'll do a proper author's note at the end, so as not to spoil it. **

**So as always...**

**ENJOY!**

**oOo**

"Dad?" Rose called as she entered his huge office a few minutes later.

Being Head of Torchwood, the whole top floor of Torchwood Tower was Pete's office, with the lift rising up inside a glass cylinder in the centre. The office had many adjoining rooms containing everything Pete could have needed to stay there for a whole week, let alone a whole day. There were toilets, a kitchen, a living room, a rest room, the main office room, a workshop, a lab, three store rooms, a medical room and a CCTV room so that Pete could keep an eye on all his workers. Rose's office on the floor below was the only office on that floor, but because it shared the level with the board room, it only took up half the floor and she didn't have nearly a third of the facilities that he had. Infact all she had was her main office, a store room, a coffee machine and a toilet/ bathroom area. Coming up to his old office had always made her jealous, and this new one was even better than his old one. Still she was here now and he could be anywhere, so it was time to start searching.

"Dad! Dad, you up here? Hello? Dad!...Hello?!"

Grumbling about the fact that he was never around when she needed him, Rose went in search of her father - starting in the CCTV room. After all, she could use the cameras on each floor to check for Pete, Jack or Mickey. At the moment, any of them would have been of some use to Rose, because she had questions for all of them.

When Rose arrived infront of the huge steel door with the familiar T stamped into it, she was torn between entering the seven digit code that she'd learned off by heart, or blasting the lock with her new gadget. She chose the latter and was inside the huge room in seconds. Screens lined the walls and a workstation of buttons, levers, joysticks and keypads ran around the room at waist height. The room was in total darkness so that images on the screens could be seen better, and every now and then something would bleep or chirp. Rose had once counted the screens in this room, and new that she now had to study a hundred and fifty screens - three for each floor of Torchwood Tower - and each screen showed a collection of four rooms every minute. That meant she had to study one thousand five hundred rooms, and it would take her roughly 50 minutes to search for her father, plus whatever time it took to go through each room in his office - and even then he might not even be in the building, so all that searching would have been in vain.

"This is hopeless," she sighed, looking at one of the screens, showing the main reception of the building. Tina the receptionist was on the phone, drumming her fingers on the desk as she waited for someone on the other end. And then Rose realised that Pete's office phone was ringing.

Pete obviously wasn't about, so Rose left the CCTV room and answered it for him.

"Hello Pete's office, Rose Tyler speaking."

"Miss, it's Tina. Is Mr Tyler about anywhere?" Tina asked in her squeeky voice.

"I dunno. I'm looking for him too. Is it something important?"

"Well, its just there's this man and woman on their way up to see 'im...they said they was agents from Torchwood Cardiff, come to corroborate some evidence or somethin'. They even tried to show me their credentials, only I ain't stupid. They was trying to fool me with that psychic paper. Its a good job you gave me that trainin' otherwise I mighta just believed 'em. Anyways, they're on their way up, so I just thought I'd warn ya."

"Right, thanks Tina," Rose replied, concerned. Who could these mysterious people be? All Torchood employees - even those from other branches, such as Cardiff - had security cards which they swiped in a special machine at reception. This allowed people to see if they were still in the building incase of a fire and it had to be evacuated. Doing a quick scan of the swipe card database on her father's computer, she saw that these two hadn't swiped any cards, and so could not be Torchwood employees. "Did they give you any names?" she asked as she was still searching the database.

"Yeah...the boke - tall guy he was, very cute - said 'is name was Doctor Smith. The girl with him - not so bad herself ...bit too full of herself, though, if you ask me - said her name was Martha Jones...she was his student learner or something."

"Right, thanks Tina. I'll see them...you said they had psychic paper?"

"Yeah, only like I said, it didn't work on me, coz I ain't stupid. I think it fooled Dave though...he let 'em in here, no quesitons asked."

"Ok, I'll have a word with him later then..." Rose made a mental note to do just that, and then the lift chimed, signalling someone's arrival. "I think they're here," she told Tina. "I'd better go. Thanks for the warning."

"My pleasure Miss," Tina replied. Then she hung up. Rose turned on the spot to face the lift, and waited for the huge steel cylinder to reach its ascent. The doors hissed open and she stepped forwards to greet the two counterfeit agents, then froze mid stride. Her mouth dropped open, and her eyes felt like they literally bulged from their sockets.

"Oh. My. God," she gasped.

Infront of her stood a tall man in a royal blue suit, with red and white converses and a tan overcoat. One hand was still positioned in his mop of hair where he'd obviously been running his fingers through it only moments before, and the other was tucked casually into the pocket of his blue suit.

Beside him stood a woman - not much shorter than him - with dark skin and even darker hair. Her keen eyes were darting everywhere, taking in the surroundings and situation, and both her hands were dug into the pockets of the crimson jacket she was wearing. She didn't seem to have noticed the strange expression her friend was now wearing on his smooth features.

"Hi," she said when she spotted Rose. She stepped forwards out of the lift and extended a hand in greeting, which Rose hesitantly shook after several more moments of staring. "I'm Martha Jones from Torchwood Cardiff, and this is the - "

"Doctor," Rose breathed, almost hysterically as she finally regained the use of her voice.

"Rose?" the Doctor asked, just as disbelieving, and almost as hysterically, as he finally forced his legs to move and carry him out of the lift to join the two women.

"Apparently you two already know each other," Martha guessed, almost sarcastically. "I 'spose we don't need this then." She handed a small black wallet back to the Doctor, or at least tried to, only he didn't seem to notice until she whacked him on the shoulder with it.

"Oh...ta," he muttered, tucking it back into an inside pocket.

"So?" Martha prompted after a moment. "Am I missing something here? Only you both look like you've seen a ghost."

"We have," they both replied in unison.

oOo

"Mind if I have a coffee?" Martha asked as she wandered around Rose's office later on. There wasn't alot to look at, seeing as Rose hadn't moved in any of her stuff yet, so she'd been contenting herself to stare out of the window for the past half an hour, watching the traffic go by down below.

"What?" Rose asked distractedly from her desk. She had her head in her hands and had barely spoken since their arrival in Pete's office over an hour ago.

"Coffee? Mind if I..." Martha nodded towards the machine in the corner.

"Oh...help yourself," Rose nodded, looking up at last. "The code's 0264."

"Or I could just borrow the Doctor's sonic screwdriver," Martha said hopefully.

"Or you could not," the Doctor countered.

"Fine," Martha huffed, turning to the machine. There was silence for a moment, which was only broken every now and then by the sound of the machine as it produced Martha's coffee. Rose watched her for a moment, and then turned back to the Doctor, who was sitting opposite her, legs crossed, feet up on the desk, hands behind his head. Only the very serious expression on his face gave away the fact that he wasn't actually relaxed.

"How is this happening?" she groaned at last, forcing herself to sit up straight again. She was breathing heavily, and it seemed like she was in shock - even a little scared. "How can you be here...right infront of me? You must be a...a hologram or...something. Maybe an alien in disguise, like the...oh my god, are you Slitheen?"

"I'm not a Slitheen," he replied calmly, remembering a similar conversation taking place between them long ago.

"What's a Slitheen?" Martha wondered aloud as she sipped at her coffee.

"Not now Martha," the Doctor muttered, also sitting up so that he could look Rose right in the eye. "Rose, its me. Believe it or not, it is really me. Honestly."

Rose stood up and moved to the window, needing something to distract her dazed and confused mind. The Doctor stood slowly and took a few steps towards her, as though wanting to comfort her, but not knowing how.

"Tell me who you are," she said at last, tearing her gaze away to meet his once more.

"I'm the Doctor."

"You're not fooling me," she retorted, stepping forwards so that she was an arms length away from him. Then she shoved him in the chest - not too hard, but enough to make him rock on his heels. "I've seen all sorts of things," she continued as he looked at her in shock, unable to believe what he was witnessing. "Nano-genes...Gelth...Daleks...Slitheen..." She looked at him darkly. "You sure you're not a Slitheen?"

"No, I'm not. Trust me," the Doctor replied. "Look, no zip." He parted the hair on his forehead, as if proving his point, and Rose nodded, apparently satisfied by that answer. Then she turned away from him again to look back out the window.

"You can't be him," she whispered.

"Then how can I remember this..." he asked, joining her at the window. "The very first word I ever said to you, trapped in that cellar, surrounded by shop window dummies - oh... such a long time ago - I took your hand..." he reached across the gap between them as he spoke and gently took her hand in his own. As their fingers entwined, Rose felt a familiar feeling tingle up her arm. She hadn't felt that feeling in over seven years. She glanced down at their joined hands for a moment, and then back up into the Doctor's eyes. "I said one word. Just one word," the Doctor continued. "I said..._run."_

_"_Doctor?" Rose whispered, tears threatening to fall. She quickly closed her eyes to try and stop them, and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, she truly expected him to have vanished, and to find out that it had all been a dream. But what she saw when she re-opened them was the Doctor's heart warming grin.

"Hello," he said gently, squeezing her hand a little, in a reassuring way. Rose didn't need any more confirmation than that and found herself falling into his arms in uncontrollable sobs.

"It is you! It is!" She sobbed, and he looked to Martha in alarm over her shoulder, suddenly unsure of what to do. Martha just shrugged. After a moment, however, the Doctor felt instinct take over and found himself crushing her in a loving hug, like he never wanted to let her go again for fear of losing her.

"I'm here," he whispered in her ear. "And I'm never gonna leave you, ever again. I promise."

Rose pulled back away from him, wiped a tear from her eye and took a deep, steadying breath.

"So," he said brightly as she dried her eyes with the back of her hand, still sniffing, but in a more controlled manner now. "I'm me, you're you, Martha's Martha..."

"Speak for youself," Martha muttered. "I feel like I'm in a different world..."

"Well, technically you are," the Doctor replied matter-of-factly. She'd forgotten how keen his hearing was. "There are parallel worlds. Every single decision we make creates a parallel existence, a different dimension where - "

"You know what I'm hearing?" Martha asked, almost sarcastically, as she interupted him. "Whoosh." She ran a hand over her head in demonstration, and the Doctor glared at her.

"That's just charming that is! Twice now I've tried to explain about this place, and twice I've been rudely interupted in the _same place_! And I thought I was the rude one!"

"Rude and not ginger," Rose smiled, remembering his very vague description of himself during their first Christmas together.

"That's right!" he beamed, delighted that she remembered.

"You were so disappointed that you weren't ginger," she continued, grinning now. Martha just looked at them both like they were insane, or speaking a different language.

"I was, wasn't I...and I seem to remember a button too. A great big button which must -"

"Never ever ever be pressed under any circumstances," Rose finished, and they both positively beamed. "Then you called the leader a cranak pel casacree salvak."

"I did?! Oh, that _was_ rude." The Doctor's cheeks flushed slightly in embarrasement, and he was about to say something else when Martha interupted.

"A what?"

"Cranak pel casacree salvak," the Doctor told her.

"What's that when its at home?"

"Its Sycoraxic," Rose told her.

"Right, so why isn't the TARDIS translating it for me then?" Martha asked, confused.

"Well, you see, the TARDIS is a bit of an old woman at times," the Doctor sighed, placing his hands back in his pockets again and strolling over to Martha. "You see, some words...they're just so..._rude..._she refuses to translate them."

"And what does it mean?" Martha asked, staring up at him, her coffee forgotten.

"It means..." he leant down and whispered something in her ear. Martha blushed madly and bit her lip, shocked.

"Oh," she nodded at last. "Right."

"So," Rose sighed, turning so that she was standing beside the Doctor, with his arm drapp across her shoulder. "I never asked before, how are you even here? I mean, the universe should have collapsed or something, shouldn't it?"

"Well technically, yes," the Doctor nodded.

"So then...how?" Rose asked in confusion, as she looked up at him.

"Well," he started, then stopped and pondered. "I'm not exactly sure, to be quite honest. Perhaps its a bit like glass?"

"Glass? What?"

"Well, Imagine a sheet of glass, miles long. This is the breach between the universes, ok?" He tapped the pane of glass in the window behind him for emphasise. "Now, shoot a section of the glass and a hole will be made by the bullet, but the glass doesn't shatter." He pointed to one corner of the window. "This is the gap the Daleks made that the Cybermen and Preachers used to cross between the universes. The more things pass through this hole, the bigger it gets until it shatters." As if to demonstrate his point even further, he took out his sonic screwdriver and aimed it at the window. A tiny hole was created, with cracks snaking their way further and further away from it the longer he held the device there. Then he stopped and removed the screwdriver to leave the cracked corner of window.

"Don't suppose you could demonstrate on that bit of glass instead?" Rose asked hopefully, pointing to the hideous glass in the door that she absolutely loathed. But the Doctor apparently didn't hear her as he continued on.

"Now, if you call out the autoglass repair man - which happened to be me, in that case - he repairs the damage by filling in the hole as best he can, and nothing else can come through." He switched his screwdriver to a different setting and pointed it at the glass again. As if by magic, the cracks began to heal themselves.

"Nope, thought not," Rose muttered, answering her own question.

"Of course it will leave a scar, and if another hole was made in the same area, the glass would be weaker this time and the whole wall would collapse. BUT if you make another hole further along the glass, away from the original hole, the glass will still be strong enough to not shatter when the hole is made." The Doctor moved to the opposite corner and repeated the process. As he'd explained, the glass did not smash, although it creaked and split, and looked dangerously close to collapsing at any minute.

"Ergo the TARDIS can slip through the gap easily without endangering either of the universes. However,when this gap is sealed, the glass will be completely weakened throughout, and there is no chance of ever making another hole without fracturing the remaining glass." He repeaired the glass again and turned back to his friends wielding his screwdriver with a flourish.

"Do you know what?" Rose said after a moment. "You lost me at the repair man bit, but now...now it strangely makes sense."

"Of course it does! Why wouldn't it when I made it up on the spot?!"

"You're crazy," Rose laughed as he put away his sonic screwdriver and came back over to join them. "What setting did you use by the way?" she asked as an afterthought.

"Basic sonic wave to crack the glass, 2469D to repair it," he answered. "Why?"

"Just...curious," Rose replied innocently, patting the pocket with her own screwdriver in. She didn't want him to know she had her own one for the moment, because he might try to take it from her and do all sorts of weird things to it.

"So," the Doctor said brightly, changing the subject. "The big question is, how long's it been, how've you been, and what's been going on around here?...Hang on, wait...that's three questions...oh well. Same difference. Oh, and don't lean on that glass by the way...I sort of reduced it's strength...great party trick, but it does have it's downside too. But yes, where were we?"

"Well, I missed a year of my life...again," Rose told him and the Doctor held up his hands in defence.

"Not my fault this time!"

Rose just laughed, and Martha looked from one to the other, utterly confused. It was clear the two of them had a great history together, and although she'd already known this from her travels with the Doctor, she had no idea just how deep their feelings for each other ran...well, not until now, at least.

"I've got a little brother and a little sister," Rose continued, not seeming to notice Martha's expression. She counted everything off on her fingers as she listed them. "We've adopted Mickey, seeing as his nan died six years ago and he has no other family here. I've met the parallel Captain Jack, defeated the Sycorax, Slitheen, Autons, Krillitaines - both here and in ancient Rome - and I was in this tower when it collapsed. This new one's only just been finished."

"Mmmm, I can smell it," the Doctor nodded, sniffing the air in an exaggerated fashion. Martha found herself subconsiously copying, then forced herself to stop.

"Its been seven years since Darlig Ulv Stranden," Rose sighed, ignoring the Doctor's exaggerated sniffs. "And I've...well...everyone says I've changed. I don't know how true it is, but I do feel different. Maybe it's just this job?"

"The stress must be awful," Martha agreed, desperate to say something so that she wasn't forgotten completely.

"More so in recent weeks," Rose nodded. "It seems that someone wants me out of the way, and I can't work out their motives. If I only knew what I'd done to upset whoever it is, then perhaps I could solve this mystery and stop living in fear of another attack."

"You were attacked?" Martha asked, alarmed. Suddenly this whole conversation had taken a very serious turn.

"This building was blown up - with me still inside. At first, I thought - like everyone else - that it was an accident. A faulty gas valve on one of the tanks. But then someone found a sabotage spider in the wreckage and thats when I knew it was no accident."

"But how can you be sure you were the target, and not Torchwood in general?" Martha asked. The Doctor just frowned, sqeezed Rose's shoulder comfortingly and was staying remarkably silent for once - a sign Martha had come to learn to mean he was deeply upset or angry - perhaps even both.

"When I was in Ancient Rome with Captain Jack - through no fault of my own, I might add - someone told my family that I was dead. Because Jack got the flight slightly wrong and I came back a year later than I was supposed to, my whole family had come to believe that it was true, and I was dead."

"But that's awful!"

"Any idea who it is?" the Doctor suddenly spoke up. His voice was calm. Too calm. That meant that he wasn't calm at all.

"Well, I can only think of one person," Rose replied. Martha looked to her expecting her to say the Daleks, or the Judoon or something. But all she said was "Cassandra".

"Who?" Martha asked.

"Lady Cassandra O'Brian Dot Delta Seventeen," the Doctor told her. "The last 'pure' human - or so she likes to think. But how? She's not gonna be around for billions of years."

"We've been having a bit of trouble with Time Windows," Rose informed him, gently shrugging herself free of his arm and walking over to her desk. She pulled a file out of her desk and handed it to him. "Captain Jack's still a Time Agent in this Universe and was assigned to track down and stop our clockwork friends - only this time they've been opening up time windows all over the place - not just in France - and aliens and people from all over the Universe have been getting into different time periods and onto different planets through the windows. Until Jack's ship's repaired, there's no way to close the windows down. And until then, I can't even begin to start sending everyone back where they came from."

"Oh yes you can," the Doctor corrected, snapping the file shut and dumping it back on the desk. "Because you're Rose Tyler, and if I know you - which I think I do - you can do anything. Come on."

"Where are we going?" Martha asked as she and Rose followed the Doctor from the room.

"To see an old friend," he replied over his shoulder. Martha and Rose just looked at each other and shrugged. Martha had never seen the Doctor like this, and Rose only had a few times.

"He's angry...very angry," she muttered to Martha as they were forced to jog, just to keep the Doctor within sight.

"Angry that someone tried to hurt you?"

"I doubt it," Rose sighed. "Most probably because someone's messing with time. That's one of his pet hates."

"How do you mean?"

"Lets just say, if someone messes with the timeline - he is not amused. He is a _Time _Lord, after all."

"Oh," Martha nodded, suddenly comprehending everything Rose was saying. " I wouldn't like to be one of those droid things when he catches up to them."

oOo

**Author Note Continued: Now, for those who are big fans of Martha, I'm sorry if I offend you with my interpretation of her, but this is how I see her on screen - trying too hard to impress the Doctor, and not quite understanding everything that's going on around her. She's too frightened to ask the questions that were so obvious to Rose. Rose would ask them of her own accord, whereas Martha would need encouragement, or would ask completely the wrong thing. Still, that could just be because I'd built up this dislike of her even before her debut, and have not been proved wrong yet. Well anyways, sorry if I do offend you with her attitude etc. As I said before, it's just my interpretation of her.**

**Oh, and another thing, Rose's reaction to the Doctor...I could have drawn it out so that it was long and tearful and 'I can't believe your back' etc, but I don't think Rose would be like that now. She's moved on, and learnt to contain her emotions. She's very reluctant to show her emotions openly these days - well in this story at least. Besides, she's happy to see him, and as soon as they meet again, I think it should be like they were never apart, because their friendship was so strong that it could stand the long period of time in between and come out on the other side even stronger. Still...that's just what I think. What do you think? Was this chapter any good? Or did it spoil the story?**


	23. Barcelona

**Author Note: Hey guys, appologies for the lateness of posting, the weird chapter you're about to read, and any typos...its been one hell of a day I really don't have the time, patience or energy to proof read it now. So appologies. It is also a little weird, but this was done on purpose as you will find out in the next chapter. So as always...**

**ENJOY!**

oOo

If Rose had ever held any doubts in her mind about how beautiful and magnificent the TARDIS was, these were washeed away as soon as she stepped through the doors. It was like stepping into her past. Nothing had changed. The sloping coral supports still circled the room, the wires still criss-crossed haphazardly across the floor and ceiling, and the console in the centre was still battered and made up with a 'mix-and-match' assortment of everyday items.

"Now do you feel different?" the Doctor asked, stepping up beside her.

"I feel...like I'm home," Rose replied blissfully. She walked almost in slow motion up to the console, running her hand across the coral supports and railings, then across the controls themselves.

"She's all yours," the Doctor invited. "Anywhere you want."

"Anywhere?" Rose asked, sure she'd misheard him.

"Anywhere," he confirmed gently. "You remember how?"

"Of course," Rose grinned as she wandered around the console flicking switches, twisting levers and turning dials. It was like riding a bicycle. Once you learnt, you never forgot...well, you did, but it soon came back to you again.

"Hold tight," the Doctor told Martha as he sat himself down in the battered arm chair. "Her landing's aren't as smooth as mine."

Seconds later the TARDIS gave a light jolt, barely felt by its passengers, and Rose leant back against the railings, arms folded across her chest, eyebrows raised in an almost smug expression.

"Yeah, I see what you mean," Martha replied sarcastically, and the Doctor looked shocked.

"What?" he cried defensively, standing up. "She used to be really bad at landing!"

"Speak for yourself," Rose grinned as she headed for the door. "Christmas 2006 ring any bells?"

"But that was different! I was ill!" the Doctor protested.

Rose ignored his comment and headed for the door. "So, you coming or what?"

"Where are we?" Martha asked, following. She was still miffed at the fact that Rose could pilot the TARDIS, and she couldn't. What she didn't know, however, was that most of Rose's knowledge of the ancient time ship hadn't come from the Doctor, but the ship itself, because Rose had been closer to the TARDIS than anyone else ever had...even the Doctor hadn't come as close to his beloved ship as she had. She shared a unique bond that no-one else could ever begin to understand.

"Welcome to Barcelona," Rose announced as the three of them stepped out into what looked like a gigantic fairground.

"Oh great, Spain. Just where I always wanted to go," Martha sighed in obvious distaste. But the Doctor was grinning.

"You remembered!"

"Of course," Rose replied. "You still owe me that trip, remember? I wanna see these legendary dogs with no noses."

"Dogs with no noses?" Martha repeated.

"Yeah. We're not in the city Barcelona," the Doctor informed her as he dug his hands into his pockets. "We're on the planet Barcelona - famous for its dogs with no noses. Come on, you two are gonna love it! Don't wander off now!" He strolled off and was immediately swamped in the crowds, leaving Martha and Rose alone together. Rose just shrugged and started off in a completely different direction.

"He said not to wander off!" Martha called after her.

"Yeah he did," Rose replied indifferently. Martha was torn about who to follow. The Doctor - who she trusted, or Rose - who she hardly knew, and was (if she was honest) slightly jealous of...well ok, more than slightly.

"Rose, wait!" she called after a moment's hesitation, jogging to catch up with the young blonde.

The Doctor watched them both from the shadow of a nearby trading stall. He'd deliberately left them alone with strict instructions not to wander off, because he knew that was exactly what Rose would do. If Martha chose to follow her, it would give them both a chance to get to know each other better - because he had a feeling that if they didn't settle their differences soon, sparks would fly, and the prospect of these two at war was an even more chilling thought than the knowledge that there were still daleks out there somewhere. He knew how dangerous Rose could be, and he'd seen what lengths Martha would go to when pushed, so he didn't want to give them any reason to turn on each other. The results of that could be catastrophic, not only for them, but potentially for the whole Universe too.

He watched them until they were lost in the crowds, then turned his attention to the market stall he'd been using as cover.

"Ooh, sonic crystal rings...now there's an idea."

oOo

"So...Rose...you and the Doctor...?"

Martha was trying to casually enter into a conversation about their alien friend, but Rose's attention was caught elsewhere by the dogs with no noses, barking at them from cages in the pet shop they'd entered.

"Look at him," Rose pointed to one tiny puppy in the corner of his cage. "He's so sweet!"

"Would look better with a nose," Martha replied, slightly horrified by the dog's empty nose-less snout. If Rose didn't want to talk about the Doctor for a moment, she wouldn't force her. It was obviously a sensitive topic.

"I think he's rather cute," Rose protested, crouching down so that she was on the same level as the puppy. "Hey there little guy." He was just like a tiny spaniel - only where his nose should have been, there was just fur and whiskers.

"See, now this is more my kind of dog," Martha called from a little further up. Rose reluctantly tore herself away from the tiny puppy and went to join Martha infront of another cage. This one contained another puppy, only he had a nose, huge fluffy ears and gorgeous deep brown eyes. His legs seemed too short for his body, and his eyes and ears seemed too large. His little fluffy stick of a tail wagged furiously as Rose coaxed him towards them, but as soon as he got too close, his ears went flat and his teeth showed in a fierce little growl.

"What breed is he, I wonder?" She asked curiously as the pup came forwards and snapped at her finger through the bars.

"Looks like a husky," Martha shrugged. "I'm not too good with dog breeds. Cats are more my thing."

"The Doc's not too keen on cats," Rose grinned. "He got threatened by one in a dress once. Kinda put him off 'em."

"You mean Novice Hame?" Martha asked, but Rose didn't hear. She was too busy trying to free her shoulder from the suddenly crushing grip of the pet shop owner.

"You can't touch unless you's gonna pay," he growled angrily, increasing his grip. Rose's shoulder was being forced further towards the ground, making her become rather lop-sided, and all the colour had drained from her face. Her expression was one of contorted horror and it looked like she might pass out at any second. Hot tears of pain and anger rolled down her cheeks as she tried to free herself, but to no avail.

"Leave her alone!" Martha cried, horrified, rushing forwards to help. But the keeper simply grabbed her shoulder and exacted the same treatment on her. The pain was unbearable, and Martha cried out in agony.

"We...we can...explain!" Rose gasped, reaching desperately into her pocket. Trying to escape his grip was futile, so she'd decided on another tactic. A moment later she pulled out her psychic paper and waved it in the general direction of his face. "RSPCA!" she told him. "Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals! We were just doing a..." she grimaced in pain, but forced herself to continue. "...a routine inspection...to...make sure you were...keeping these animals in good condition."

"Can't say I've ever heard of this R-S-whatever it is," the keeper grumbled, although he did release his grip on them slightly.

"Its a new organisation...just set up a few weeks ago," Rose replied, thinking fast. "And I'm...I'm pleased to say you passed!"

"With flying colours!" Martha added.

The shop keeper positively beamed in delight and immediately released his hold on them. This sudden decrease in pressure on their shoulders off balanced the two women, and they tumbled backwards into the side of another cage, knocking it sideways and causing it's door to burst open. Thankfully this one was empty.

"That be good news," the keeper smiled, extending hands to help them both up. "That be very good news. Please do accept me appologies Miss's."

"No harm done," Rose replied sarcastically, through gritted teeth as she massaged her throbbing shoulder. "I'm sure you only broke my collar bone. Nothing major."

"So...you's interested in me dogs, eh?" the keeper asked as he opened the cage that contained the only dog with a nose in the whole shop. "He's not one of me best sellers," he admitted, reaching in and grabbing the dog roughly round the waist, ignoring its fierce growls of warning. "People don't want dogs with noses...they reckons they smells."

Martha had to seriously control her expression at this ironic and rather funny statement, and Rose rolled her eyes. "Do you know what, Mr...?" she looked to him for a name.

"Isaak...call me Isaak," the keeper replied, crushing her hand in a rough handshake.

"And there goes my fingers!" Rose howled as she heard several loud cracks. Isaak, however, didn't seem to notice. Apparently Barcelonians had a higher pain threshold than humans...unless he was a human? Rose wasn't entirely sure what species the Barcelonians were, having never met them before. They certainly looked like humans - but then so did the Doctor.

"Well Isaak," Martha interupted, hoping to divert his attention from Rose for a moment, to allow her to recover from the pain. "This dog...what breed is he?"

"He be a wolf," Isaak replied, holding the pup - or rather cub - up by the scruff of its neck. The cub howled and yelped in terrified pain and wriggled, trying to free himself. But as Rose and Martha had already found out, this was futile and completely pointless.

"A wolf?" Martha asked, alarmed.

"Yup. One hundert percent wolf...tha's why I bought him. He's not native to this planet, so I thought people would go crazy and buy him in seconds. Only they din't, and now I can't shift the bugger."

"And what'll happen if you can't sell him?" Martha asked, although she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer.

"I'll ave to kill 'im. Cut me losses. Start again," Isaak sighed, although it seemed he was more upset about the prospect of losing money, than he was about the poor cub.

"We'll take him," Rose blurted out suddenly. She was cradling her hand, and still looked very pale, but there was a determination in her eyes like nothing Martha had ever seen before.

"We will?" Martha questioned, surprised.

"You got the money?" Isaak asked suspiciously. "Only you RS-whatsits sound very...odd if you asks me. You don't look like you's got any money."

"Not on me, no," Rose told him steadily. "But tell me where the nearest cash point is, and I can soon get it for you."

"You can?" Martha was seriously bemused now.

"Just tell me where it is and how much you want," Rose offered, looking Isaak straight in the eye.

"Well..." Isaak pondered. "I bought him for 250 tokens, so lets say 400 tokens?"

"300," Rose replied.

"375?"

"350...final offer," Rose told him firmly.

"Alright fine, 350," Isaak agreed reluctantly. "You wanna finish the deal in writing, or with a shake?"

"In writing, if you don't mind," Rose answered quickly, tucking her injured hand away into her jacket pocket.

"Right, you go get the money then, and I'll draw up your receipt," Isaak told them, literally throwing the cub back into its cage.

"Where the hell are you going to get 350 of these token things?" Martha hissed as she and Rose left the shop, following Issak's directions to the nearest cash machine.

"Watch me," Rose replied, pulling out her sonic screwdriver.

"Where'd you get that?!" Martha demanded.

"A friend made it for me," Rose replied casually as she pointed it at the screen of the cash machine. "The sonic screwdriver isn't copyrighted to the Doctor, you know." She withdrew a hand full of small gold beads from the machine, took a pouch from the dispenser by the side, deposited the beads inside and pulled the drawstring tight to seal the pouch.

"Right, lets go get that pup."

"You mean cub," Martha corrected. "What the hell possessed you to buy him anyway? He's a wolf!"

"Lets just say I have a certain connection with wolves," Rose grinned wryly, heading back towards the shop with her tokens.

"The Doctor's not gonna like this!" Martha exclaimed as she reluctantly followed.

oOo

The Doctor, however, loved the idea. He'd caught up to the girls at the pet shop, and had covertly watched the whole incident from behind a nearby shelf. So far Rose and Martha seemed to be getting on alright, no major aguements, no fights. Maybe this was turning out to be a better trip than he'd first thought. And now Rose had gone and bought herself a little wolf cub. This could mean only one thing - she'd keep him and rear him herself, or she'd set him free back on Earth.

Either way she was giving the cub a much better chance at life than anyone on this planet would. She hadn't lost her compassion then.

The two girls made their way back out into the market again, with the cub trotting along on a lead behind them. He seemed much happier now that he was out of his cage and walking away from the shop. Martha was gazing around at the incredible sights - the fairground rides in the background swooping and whooshing and causing many screams of fright or delight. The various stalls and shops selling everything from dogs with no noses, to carrot flavoured candy floss, and marmite tarts. It was like one huge fairground attraction that seemed to stretch way into the distance and never end.

The Doctor watched them contentedly, from a safe distance of course, and even managed to catch bits of their conversation now and then.

"What shall we call him?"

"Him? You're sure its a 'he'?"

"Well he looks like a 'he', don't you boy?"

"Looks more like a girl to me."

"He looked more like a husky to you earlier, too."

"Hey, wolves are like huskies!"

"And girls are like boys."

"No they're not! There's a huge list of differences."

"Exactly! There's a huge list of differences between huskies and wolves too!"

"Go on then, name them!"

"Stronger jaws, different habitats, different diets, different looks, different sounds, shall I go on?"

The Doctor suddenly found himself parted from the girls by a large crowd of tree people - no doubt from the Forest of Cheem. He never did find out Martha's reply to Rose's rather sarcastic question, because when he caught up to them again, they'd changed the subject back to names.

"How about Fang?" Martha suggested.

"Too Cliche. He's unique...he needs a unique name."

"Ok, erm...Jack Sparrow?"

"The pirate?"

"Well, you'll never find another person like Captain Jack Sparrow!"

"Clearly you've never met Captain Jack Harkness then."

"I have actually. He kissed me!"

"He kisses everyone. That's no big deal."

"So he's kissed you then?"

"Yup, and the Doctor."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah. You should have seen the Doctor's face!"

This time the Doctor fell behind on purpose because he really didn't want to be reminded of that period of his old life. Ok, so what if Jack was flexible. Didn't mean he'd needed a kiss from the rogue agent. He hung back for a few more seconds, then caught up again to find that thankfully they'd changed topic yet again.

"So, you gonna keep him, or what?"

"Well, I dunno. I can't think about the future right now. I'm struggling to even think about the present."

"If the Doctor asked you to come back, would you?"

"Would you want me to?"

The Doctor's ears pricked up and he suddenly charged forwards so that he was practically walking on Rose's heels.

"Well..."

"Martha, be honest with me. Would you want me to, or not?"

"Well I..."

"Look, I've been in your position. I know that when you travel with the Doctor, you get used to it just being the two of you, and when someone else comes along you feel...jealous, if you like. I know how you feel, which is why I'll understand if you say no."

"I don't want to say no, its just that...well...you wanted honest Rose?"

"Go for it," Rose replied, giving a slight twitch on the lead to encourage her nameless cub to catch up. Or perhaps it wasn't nameless now...perhaps they'd decided on a name after all.

_No, focus...Martha's about to be honest about Rose! Names can wait...never did me any harm to not have a name...name's aren't important...FOCUS!_

"Well...if I said I was...jealous of you...intimidated even, would you...would you think twice about...well about...oh I don't know. Just forget about it."

"Martha," Rose said gently, closing the gap between them a little so that she didn't have to shout it out loud. "Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. Say it. I won't care. Honestly."

O_h trust me, she will! Rose might be compassionate, but she's also petulant and can throw one hell of a strop!_

"You left big shoes for me to fill Rose, and to be honest, I don't think I can ever hope to fill them. You...you are an amazing person. I've known you for less than half a day and already I can see that. I can also see just how much you mean to the Doctor, and I'm jealous of you...who wouldn't be?...I think that if you came with us, it would be fun - don't get me wrong, I think it would be fantastic - but...it would be weird too. You two have all that past history together. You might forget me completely, or something. I just don't want to get left behind."

"Thank you," Rose smiled.

"What for?" Martha was taken back by Rose's attitude.

"For being honest with me. Its been a long time since anyone was."

"You're not angry?"

"Why would I be? Like I said, everyone's entitled to their own opinion. I can't force you to like me."

"Oh I like you Rose, I do! But like I said...past history and all that..."

"Its fine Martha, honestly. And besides, the Doctor would never forget you. He likes you. That was clear to me after the first hour of knowing you."

"Really? He does?"

"Course he does."

"Oh...So we're good?"

"We're good," Rose grinned. "Come on, there's a rather interesting rock up there. Could be a good place to get a better view of all this." She waved a hand vaguelly at the surrounding setting.

_So Rose avoided the question then...that's not so good, _the Doctor realised as he followed them a little further, then decided to leave them alone. After all, if Rose still wasn't sure about him, he didn't want her to catch him eavesdropping. That could finish it between them for good.

If they had anything left between them anyway.

Rose had changed so much since he'd last seen her, it was impossible to tell now. She'd learnt how to hide her emotions from the world, and had become as unreadable as that water logged book he'd found in the library the other day. All the ink had run and smeared across the pages, and was completely illegible.

oOo

"Rose?" Martha asked uncertainly as the two stood at the very top of the highest peak of rock, looking out over the fairground and market place.

"Yeah?" Rose replied as she gazed out at the beautiful setting sun and cuddled her cub, who she'd named Huia Lang (meaning Bad Wolf in Chinese). Since leaving the shop he had calmed considerably, and had taken a real liking to Rose, whilst she in turn had taken a real liking to him too.

"While this is all very nice and pretty and...fun, being here on Barcelona, what's it got to do with those clockwork things you mentioned earlier?"

"Absolutely nothing," Rose replied happily.

"Then...why are we here and not trying to stop them from taking over the world?"

"They don't want to take over the world. They're just confused and need sorting out. But we're here because this is the one place the Doctor promised to take me to someday, yet never did. When he said I could go anywhere, I did think about going to the droid ship, but then I thought that things had been too stressful lately and I wanted to go somewhere fun for a change. Somewhere that wasn't life threatening or dangerous."

"Well, you got the fun part right," Martha grinned, sitting herself down on the rock. "Not so sure about the non-life threatening or dangerous part though."

"But just think, if we hadn't come here, we wouldn't have found this little guy," Rose replied as she joined Martha in sitting on the rock. She rubbed Huai Lang's ears fondly and he rubbed his head up and down her arm, showing his affection in return.

"He is rather cute," Martha agreed, petting his head.

Suddenly the cub sat bolt upright, ears pricked, listening. Rose and Martha listened too, and soon found what he'd honed in on. Someone was shouting something over a tannoy to the whole fairground down below. As they listened closely, they managed to figure out what was being said.

"Roll up, roll up! Come and see the amazing Time Lord! Last of his kind! Freshly caught just an hour ago! See him perform amazing feats of escapology, and dazzle you with his intelligence. Watch as he astounds you and amazes you - a once in a lifetime opportunity! Right here, right now!"

"What on earth?!" Martha exclaimed. "What's he gone and done now?"

"No idea," Rose replied, fighting back a smile. Trust the Doctor to get captured on a _neutral _planet that never ever _ever _arrested anyone - or so he'd once told her.

"Wish we could see him now," Martha sighed. "But we've got no tickets...I saw a sign that said you have to pay 200 tokens just to get in."

Rose waved her psychic paper and sonic screwdriver at Martha. "Where there's a will, there's a way. And we _will _be going _that _way."

"Oh yeah," Martha cried, almost triumphantly. She couldn't believe how quick thinking Rose could be at times. She'd certainly have been more than useful in most - if not all - of the adventures Martha had been on with the Doctor in the past.

"Shall we?" Rose asked as she tucked her effects back into her pocket- a mischievous look in her eye.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Martha grinned. Both girls leapt from their seats in unison and started back down the rocks, Huai Lang trotting along happily at Rose's heel, tail wagging, yapping and barking.


	24. Vanishing Doctor

**Author Note: Hey guys! I'm really sorry this chapter took so long to post, but I've had the most stressful time ever...you won't believe how stressfull its been. Still, enough with the excuses, and I hope this chapter was worth the wait, although I've taken a huge risk with it, and am now anxiously waiting lots of hatemail...which I really don't want, but hey...everyone's entitled to their own opinions...hehehe**

**Enjoy!**

**oOo**

The large tent in the very centre of the fair ground was hard to miss, with its huge red flags fluttering in the breeze, and white and red stripes emblazoned all down its sides.

Getting in was easy enough, but finding a seat was the hard part. Rose and Martha edged their way along row upon row of packed spectators, eagerly watching a cage in the centre. The cage was covered with a cloth, but they could hear shouts from inside.

"Oi! Let me out! I have to find Rose and Martha! Let me out!"

"We're here Doctor!" Martha shouted, but Rose could barely hear her voice, and she was only a few feet infront, so it would have been impossible for the Doctor to hear.

"Come on," she called back over the excited crowd. "I think I just spotted some seats."

Hurrying as fast as the packed crowd would let them, they managed to nab the last two seats in the place and promptly sat down before anyone could complain about them blocking the view. Then Rose pulled out her sonic screwdriver and the scrap of paper.

"Lets see...setting 6C should work...I hope." She adjusted the device to the right setting, then gave three short flicks of the switch. After a slight pause, the tip flashed blue three times and Rose grinned. "It worked. He knows we're here now."

"How?" Martha asked.

"The two screwdrivers picked up each other's signals."

"Oh...right," Martha nodded, although it was clear Rose's description hadn't actually answered her question. But before she could probe Rose further, a ringmaster walked into the centre of the ring.

"Ladies and gentlemen! May I have your attention please!" he announced, flicking the tails of his bright red coat out behind him and brandishing a whip in the air with a flourish as he spoke. When silence didn't follow his request, he cracked the whip in the air twice, and silence immediately fell...except for Huai Lang, who whimpered and darted behind Rose's leg. She petted him softly, although her eyes never left the cage in the centre of the tent.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" the ringmaster called out again. "Feast your eyes upon the most magnificent sight. A rarer event you will never witness in your life, for today, in this very ring, you will see the last Time Lord in existence! And not only will you be able to see the last Time Lord in existence, but you'll be able to see his ingenuity and skills as he escapes the confines of his cage!"

"Oh I dunno about that," a voice said from behind the ringmaster, and the Doctor appeared, hands casually in his pockets. "Coz that cage looks empty to me. Looks like he's already got out."

"What?! How?!"

"I've no idea," the Doctor shrugged. "Perhaps he took some lessons from the great Houdini himself? Houdini! Now there was a nice fella!"

Martha and Rose couldn't help but laugh as the ringmaster ran round the cage frantically, whipping the cover off and crying out in horror when he saw that it was indeed empty. Clearly he hadn't seen the Doctor before, because he was making no attempt to stop the Time Lord as he sauntered across to Rose and Martha, weaving his way through the rapidly dispersing crowd of angry spectators, demanding their money back.

"Shall we go?" he asked calmly, although the look in his eyes told Rose that he was anything but calm. Scooping Huai Lang into her arms so that he wouldn't get trampled, the four of them made their way out of the tent once again and into the busy fairground.

"Have fun, did we?" Rose teased and the Doctor just replied with a frown that told Rose it had been anything but an enjoyable experience...for him at least.

A sudden loud crack came from behind them and they turned to see the ringmaster storming towards them.

"You! You freed my prize! You lost me all those customers! All that money!" he bellowed at the Doctor.

"Doctor?" Martha asked uncertainly, eyeing the whip.

"Its alright. I'll just talk to him, explain that it wasn't me." The Doctor reassured.

"Yeah, Doctor? I don't think that's gonna work somehow," Rose muttered, starting to back away.

"Me neither," Martha added, joining Rose.

"Maybe you're right," the Doctor realised after seeing the ringmaster's thunderous look. He turned to face them. "Run?"

"Run!" Martha and Rose agreed as the end of the whip came sailing through the air. It caught the tip of the Doctor's ear and he yelped in pain.

"OW! Move it!" he ordered and the three of them charged into the mass of tourists, hoping to lose themselves, or at least the ringmaster before he could cause any more damage.

Huai Lang was struggling now, upset by Rose's desperate behaviour, and she was finding it increasingly difficult to keep hold of him. With one huge push of his back legs, he soared out of her arms and landed neatly on the floor. And then he was off, streaking through the crowds, his lead trailing behind him.

"Lang! Lang! Get back here!" Rose yelled, but it was no use. The pup was not coming back. "I'll meet you at the TARDIS!" she called to the other two, and then set off after her pup.

"Rose!" the Doctor called desperately, but she didn't hear.

"Rose, look out!" Martha cried. She'd seen something that Rose hadn't, and tried to warn her new friend, but again Rose didn't hear.

A sudden screech of tyres on concrete was the only warning Rose did hear before something huge slammed into her side, knocking the breath out of her and throwing her up into the air. Seemingly in slow motion, she sailed over the large truck that had hit her and crashed into the dusty road behind it, landing in a crumpled heap.

Groaning, she managed to turn her head just enough to see the Doctor and Martha running towards her, screaming her name before the pain kicked in and she blacked out.

oOo

When her eyes finally flickered open again, Rose knew instinctively that she was in a hospital. How she knew, she had no idea, but slowly, one by one her senses came back to her and each of them confirmed that she was indeen in a hospital.

First, there was the smell of chlorine and that 'hospital' smell lingering in the air.

Then there was the beep and hiss of several various machines scattered around near her head.

The pure white ceiling tiles blinding her and forcing her to blink several times, before her eyes had adjusted so that they could just about tolerate the glare.

The soft linen sheets wrapped around her, the hard bean bag things on either side of her head, the thick collar round her neck and the course bandages strapped across her forehead to prevent any movement.

And finally the taste of cool, smooth plastic in her mouth and -

Rose gagged as she realised there was a tube down her throat. Choking and gagging even more, she tried to reach up and pull it out, but she couldn't. Suddenly a nurse appeared, talking calmly to her, telling her to relax as she removed the ventilator. As soon as the tube was removed, Rose coughed several times, then gulped in the welcome air, trying to sit up. But she couldn't. She couldn't move, and this panicked her even more.

"Doctor?" she called out, although her voice was more of a hoarse whisper. "Martha? Doctor?!"

"Its alright Rose," the nurse reassured her. "The doctor's on his way. Just relax. You're in safe hands now."

"What happened?" Rose asked, relaxing slightly as the nurse's words sunk in.

"You were in an accident. You stepped out infront of a pick-up truck."

"What did I do that for?" Rose wondered. That didn't sound like something she'd do..."Where's the Doctor? And Martha?" she asked again.

"The doctor's on his way. But I'm sorry, I don't know who Martha is. Is she a relative?"

"Friend," Rose corrected. "I'm a long way from my family right now."

"But you're father's in reception with someone called Captain Jack," the nurse replied, confused.

"What? So I'm on Earth?"

"Yes," the nurse replied, looking at Rose as if she were mad. Just then the door opened, although Rose couldn't see who'd just come in. The nurse turned to the newcomer and held out the clipboard containing Rose's notes.

"I think she hit her head harder than we thought, Doctor."

"Doctor!" Rose cried, expecting to see him appear by her side at any moment, grinning stupidly and telling her that everything was going to be fine. But instead, a man with thick white hair and a long white coat appeared, staring down at her over half moon spectacles. His aged face told Rose he was not one to be messed with.

"You're not the Doctor!" She frowned up at him.

"Miss Tyler, I am Doctor Lyndley, Senior Consulta-"

"But you're not the Doctor!" she insisted, interupting him.

"I think you'll find my medical certificates and countless exam grades prove otherwise."

"But your not him...where is he? Where's the Doctor? Did he leave me here? Did he dump me and run?"

"Miss Tyler, I don't know where you're getting these wild fantasies from, but I suggest you focus on the present. Now, when you were brought in you had extensive injuries to your spine and neck, hence the collar and braces. Several of your ribs had been snapped, so we've had to wire them back together, and one of them punctured a lung, causing a pneumothorax..." His voice trailed into the distance as Rose tried to sort everything out in her muddled mind.

She was in a hospital...on Earth...her father and Captain Jack were somewhere in the hospital...but the Doctor wasn't. Had he dumped her and left? Had he tried to help her in the TARDIS but found he couldn't, so had brought her home? The Doctor would never do anything like that...he'd have stayed with her...claimed he was some medical professional or something just so that he could stay with her...and Martha was a medical student! She'd have had no problems getting in either. So where were they?

"Miss Tyler?...Miss Tyler!"

"Sorry, what?" She snapped back to her senses to find the consultant, Doctor Whats-his-face, staring down at her once more.

"Did you lisen to a single thing I just said?"

"Erm..." she gave him an embarrased smile and he sighed in irritation.

"My heart weeps for the future generation."

"There won't be a future generation if I don't get outta here soon! I'm needed at work and - "

"And its all taken care of," a third, familiar voice said from the doorway.

"Dad?" Rose called out, recognizing the voice.

"Ah Mr Tyler...your daughter is certainly very...how shall we put it...galling, to say the least."

"Oi! Was that an insult?" Rose demanded. The Doctor-who-was-very-rude-but-wasn't-the-Doctor left her bedside and walked over to Pete, holding the clipboard up between Rose and his face so that she couldn't see what he was saying. He seemed to have forgotten she had ears as well as eyes.

"Perhaps you should think about a visit from the psychiatric department?"

"I heard that!" Rose retorted. Pete muffled a laugh, the consultant huffed in irritation again and then there was the sound of someone leaving, followed by another person moving over towards the bed. Pete's grinning face appeared in Rose's vision and she couldn't help but grin back.

"I can tell you're feeling better," he laughed. "Upsetting the Senior Consultant minutes after you've woken up from a coma...I have to say that's gotta be some sort of record!"

Rose laughed with him for a while, and then his words truly sunk in and she frowned again.

"Dad, what happened? How did I get here? How long was I in a coma?"

"Didn't you listen to what Doctor Lyndley was telling you?"

"How do you think I upset him?" she grinned cheekily and Pete just rolled his eyes.

"You're hopeless," he laughed again.

"Thank you," she grinned proudly.

oOo

Several CT Scans, X-Rays and MRI scans later, the collar and braces were removed and Rose was free to move about once more...well as much as her fractured ankle and bruised spinal cord and various other injuries would allow.

Because it had been one continual, hectic week for her father at work, she hadn't seen him since the day she'd woken up...infact she hadn't actually seen anyone except her mother and the twins...and Jackie was no use at all. Every time Rose approached her about the Doctor and his where-abouts, she'd always give the same reply.

"He's with other patients right now, but he'll be back soon."

"Not that pompous git! _The_ Doctor! MY doctor!"

"Rose, sweetie...we've been through this a hundred times...he's gone...you know you can't see him again. He told you that the last time you saw him!"

"I know he told me...but he was here...with someone called Martha Jones! I saw them both! He took me to Barcelona and I bought a wolf called Huai Lang! I even had my own sonic screwdriver! Its in my jacket pocket."

Jackie would always go to Rose's pocket and check it, even though she knew it would always be empty. But she would do it because she hoped that one day, Rose would be right and would prove that she wasn't going insane.

"Rose, there's nothing in here," she would reply, and seeing the confused look on her daughter;s face, would try to explain once more what happened.

"You were in a coma for three days after stepping out infront of a pick-up on Westminster Bridge...God knows why you did, but you did, and now you're in here...It must have been a dream...sounds like a dream...well, one of your dreams at least."

"What's that supposed to mean?! And it wasn't a dream! It was real, I know it was! He was here! I went to Dad's office and he arrived with Martha! Check with Tina!"

"I have...three times! She says you weren't at the office...haven't been there since it was re-built."

"But I was! I saw Danny and the others off at Madame Tussauds, and then I walked across the bridge and - "

"Stepped out infront of a pick-up truck, landing yourself in here with a concussion that's clearly addled your brains!"

"No! That's not what happened!" Rose would deny angrily, slaming her fist on the metal railing of her bed. This would send pain shooting through her sprained wrist and she'd fall silent, nursing her hand and glaring at Jackie, who would glare back. This happened every time Rose breached the subject, so in the end she decided to give up - if only to save herself from any further pain.

Now, she was sitting up in bed, two weeks after the accident, reading a magazine and constantly fidgeting. The hospital gown she'd been forced to wear was hot and itchy, and she couldn't stand it. The sooner she was allowed to wear her own clothes again, the better. And then there were all the tubes snaking here, there and everywhere, and the various bandages protecting all her wounds, and the beeping, hissing machines and the noisy rabble outside the private ward, and the nurses coming and going, but never saying a word to her...it was enough to drive anyone mad.

This was why Rose had quickly taught herself how to use the crutches she'd been given, and would hobble down to the shop each day, spending hours at a time just browsing. There wasn't much to see in the tiny store, but there was enough to keep her restless mind occupied for the time being, and she would often buy a magazine, or a few sweets to take back with her.

She was idly flicking through a magazine about some rare bird, wondering why she'd actually bought the magazine in the first place, when the door swung open and Doctor Lyndley breezed in, white coat billowing out behind him, glasses halfway down his nose as usual.

"Miss Tyler, I have good news!" he announced grandly as he picked up her notes to study them.

"You've finally realised what an arrogant git you are?" Rose muttered behind her magazine.

"I feel you have made significant improvement these past few days, and I'm perfectly happy to discharge you."

"I'm free to go?" she asked hopefully.

"Miss Tyler, this isn't prison...you were free to go at any time, it just wasn't advised."

"Now you tell me!" she sighed in exasperation, putting down the magazine and looking at him expectantly. "So, when can I go?"

"You must first fill in some discharge papers, and I shall write you a prescription for some pain killers which you must fetch from the chemist, but I assure you you'll be out of her before noon at the latest."

"Hurrah!" Rose punched the air in delight, which pulled at her broken ribs and the stitching from several opperations, and she howled in agony. Doctor Lyndley just looked at her over his glasses, slightly amused.

"Do try to take it easy, Miss Tyler. I don't want to see you back here any time in the near future."

"Believe me, I don't intend to be back," Rose retorted.

"Finally, we agree on something," he replied, scribbling something on her notes before placing them back at the end of the bed. "And do try to refrain from stepping infront of any more vehicles, however tempting it might seem."

"Of course," Rose agreed. "I'm not stupid!"

"You could have fooled me," Doctor Lyndley replied as he walked out of the door. "Goodbye Miss Tyler."

"Goodbye Doctor Frankenstein! I'll miss you too!" Rose called sarcastically after him, throwing the magazine at the door for extra emphasis.

There was just something about that man that really got on her nerves. Just his mere presence in the same room as her was enough to annoy the hell out of her, sending her into a strop that she had no idea why she was having. She found that with Doctor Lyndley, the ruder she was, the better she felt...perhaps the accident had caused her to hit her head harder than she thought...perhaps it had addled her brains, transformed her into a completely different person...or perhaps it was just Doctor Lydnley constantly suggesting that she was insane? Whatever it was, she hated that man and the sooner she was out of this poor excuse for a hospital, the better.


	25. A Night In

**Author Note: Hey guys, sorry for the long wait...I've had this written for ages, just haven't found the time to post. My bad. Sorry! **

**Anyways, I hope this chapter proves a little more popular than the last...reviews are always good! Hint hint! Hehehehe.**

**So as always, enjoy!**

**oOo**

Captain Jack was waiting for Rose when she got home, and pounced on her almost as soon as she was through the front door, smothering her in a huge hug that almost knocked her off her feet.

"Whoa Jack! Steady!" she exclaimed, rocking back on her one good foot and both crutches, trying to keep her balance.

"Sorry," he muttered. "Its just...I almost lost you..._we _almost lost you," he quickly corrected himself and tried not to look too embarassed, but it was too late and he ended up blushing madly. Rose chose to ignore this, much to his relief, and hobbled into the living room, where she crashed out on the sofa and refused to move.

"I would have come to see you...only I don't do hospitals...How are you?" Jack asked, shifting her feet to make room for himself to sit down, despite the fact that the two chairs over the other side of the room were free.

"Physically, I'm in pain, although its not as bad as it was...emotionally, I'm not sure...and mentally, I think I've lost it," she replied with a shrug.

"You what?" Jack laughed as he pulled the coffee table further their way so that Rose could rest the heavy cast on her foot up on it instead of his knee.

"Well, I apparently step out into the road on Westminster Bridge - of all places - for no reason! Then I wake up in hospital and insult the snobbish consultant. Then I start ranting on about a dream that I was so sure was real, and now I don't know what's real anymore, and what's not. I'm confused, Jack! So confused."

"You want to hear what I think happened?" Jack asked calmly, shifting up towards her a little more. "I think you've had too much on your mind these past few weeks and you're starting to imagine things...you're trying to right the wrongs of this world by believing in things that aren't real. Things like the Doctor's return...because thinking about these things helps you to live each day...gives you hope...gives you a purpose to carry on. You're looking for things that aren't there, and the more you look, the more you believe that they are actually there. Perhaps this accident was your body telling you to stop...your mind didn't realise what was going on, and so you don't know why you did what you did...infact you can't even remember...am I making sense?"

"Honestly?" she asked.

"Honestly," he confirmed.

"You lost me at the 'believing things that aren't real' bit."

"Thought as much," he grinned. "You had that glazed look in your eye that told me you weren't listening."

"I was! I just...didn't hear what you were saying," Rose replied sheepishly, then seeing Jack's face sighed and corrected herself. "Alright fine, I wasn't listening. I was thinking about something else."

This was the truth. She had been thinking about something else. She'd been thinking about having a glass of wine and a hot bath...although the plaster cast kind of removed the option of having a bath. But still, the thought was satisfying enough for now.

"If you want, we can forget about the past few weeks and just have the night in?" he offered. "I can order a takeaway...we can chill out...have some wine...watch a movie...what do you say?"

"I say you just read my mind," she grinned. Something about watching a movie the night you came out of hospital always seemed to appeal to Rose, and god knows she'd been in hospital enough times now for this to almost be a regular occurence. Jack grinned, grabbed the cordless phone from the side table, and a copy of the yellow pages, then started leafing through numbers, while Rose sent Mickey a text to let him know how she was. She could have phoned, but then she'd probably end up talking to him all night and spoil the special evening that Jack had just spontaneously created. She'd see him in the morning anyway...he was only staying with his mate for the night to help do something to his car...apparently. Although, Rose had to admit that this was very odd behaviour for Mickey...he never stayed over at anyones! Something told her that Jack had more of a hand in this than he was letting on. After all, it seemed a coincidence that the night she came out of hospital, Jack and Suki had gone to their friends for a sleepover, Mickey was staying with a mate, Jackie had gone late night shopping and Pete was working late...leaving her and Jack alone in the house. Bit of a big coincidence actually.

But if Jack did have anything to do with it, he certainly wasn't letting on...infact he looked almost innocent as he leafed through pages and dialed numbers.

At last, once the chinese had arrived, the text to Mickey had been sent and Rose had picked a movie from the cupboard, the two settled down for their night in together.

oOo

"I loved that!" Jack cried through a mouthful of noodles, towards the end of the film. "The maelstrom was just so...wow! And the fighting! I got chills watching it! The way they tore that ship apart! BOOM!"

"I liked the wedding," Rose replied as she finished off her carton of food and set it on the coffee table, trying not to laugh at Jack's childish enthusiasm and excitement. "That's got to be one of the coolest weddings ever. Getting married in the middle of a huge battle like that!"

"It's very romantic, I'll admit," Jack agreed, calm again, placing his empty carton inside hers and sipping his wine. "But would it last? It was a spur of the moment decision, after all."

"Come off it!" Rose argued, sipping her own glass of wine. "They've been in love since they first met! If you'd watched the first two films, you'd have known that."

"Hey it's not my fault if I was off being a Time Agent and saving the universe whilst the first two were being screened in cinemas!"

"Alright, you're forgiven," Rose laughed. Jack could be so petulant at times...it was hilarious, and so fun to wind him up even more.

"Thank you...hey, wait...what do you mean 'I'm forgiven'?"

"Do you mind?" Rose nodded towards the screen. "Missing the last few scenes of the film here. My future husband's on screen!"

"Right...sorry..." Jack fell silent again and Rose watched him out of the corner of her eye, trying not to smile. How long would it take Jack to work it out?

Ten minutes later...

"What do you mean your 'future husband'?!"

"Orlando Bloom...soooooo gorgeous and hunky and fit and dreamy and - "

"Alright, I get the picture!" Jack exclaimed, with an exaggerated wave of his hands to show his frustration. Then he glanced sideways at her and saw she was struggling to keep a straight face. She was winding him up on purpose. Well two could play at that game.

"I'll admit he is kind of fit. That hair...and oh, those eyes. Dreamy."

This made Rose look at him sharply. "Jack you're not..."

"What?" he asked innocently. Now it was his turn to try and keep a straight face.

"You're not...you know...flexible, are you?" Rose was floundering...obviously not sure how to breach the subject of Jack's interests.

"Depends how flexible you want me to be," he replied with raised eyebrows. "Why? Does it matter if I like men as well as women?"

"No, course not...not at all," Rose replied quickly...a little too quickly, and Jack knew she was lying. He told her as much, and she just blushed in embarassement. Seeing her blush and flounder was too much for him and he burst out laughing. It took a moment for Rose to work out what was so funny.

"You're teasing me!" she cried, slapping his shoulder.

"You started it," he retorted. "And besides, just coz I look and sound and act the same as your parallel friend...don't mean I'm the same."

"I know," Rose replied with a nod. Then she decided to quickly change the subject before it became awkward. By this time the film had finished, so she glanced at her watch. "12:30...we should really go to bed."

"Together?" Jack suggested cheekily, earning him another slap.

"Down boy," Rose laughed as she got unsteadily to her feet. This was easier said than done, however, when one foot was in a giant plaster cast and the other had gone to sleep. She wobbled all over the place, threatening to lose her balance at any moment. Jack saw this and immediately jumped up to help, just as Rose fell forwards into his arms.

"Hello," he grinned as she looked up into his eyes.

"Hello," she replied, bemused by his choice of words. Of all the things he could have said, he'd said _hello_. Sometimes she wondered just what went on up in that brain of his. "Are you gonna let me go?" she asked at last.

"Nope."

"Right, so...now what then?"

"Now I'm going to kiss you."

"Oh." Rose wasn't sure if he was just messing about, or if he actually meant it. Jack picked up on her uncertainty almost immediately, but he took it to mean something else entirely.

"Is that alright? I mean, I thought I'd give you warning this time so you couldn't blame me for it."

"I never blamed you last time," Rose replied quietly. "I blamed myself."

"Because of Darren?"

"Because of the Doctor...and Darren," Rose sighed, looking away. Jack gently took her chin between the finger and thumb of one hand and turned her to look back at him.

"They're not here," he reminded her gently. "And neither of them are coming back, either."

"I know," Rose nodded sadly, as if this knowledge hurt her even more than any physical injury ever could.

"Rose..." Jack called her name softly, gently...afraid he'd spoilt the moment. But when he looked into her eyes, he was relieved to see that they were full of fire, and passion, and warmth. This gave him all the courage he needed to continue.

"I love you." He muttered softly, gazing into her deep brown eyes, longing her to return the gesture. And then she said it, and it was real, and warm, and genuine.

"I love you too."

Jack was too stunned to reply. After all she'd been through...all of this with Darren and the Doctor and everything else...and yet she loved him, so much so that she'd told him - those three little words he'd been longing to hear escape her lips...they finally had...and they weren''t a lie either. He could tell that she meant them...each and every word.

He was truly honoured, and touched by this thought. His lips were trembling, but he didn't care. Slowly, hesitantly, he leaned forwards. Rose leaned forwards to join him, and for a second time their lips met in a soft and gentle kiss...and because there was nothing to stop them this time, it lingered and deepened, expressing everything they both realised they should have spoken to each other before. One that, to them, mocked their false heroics in denying the feelings they'd had for each other all along.

He loved her. She loved him. They both knew it...had always known it...and now nothing could come between them. They were free at last to be together.

From the doorway, Jackie and Pete watched their daughter quietly, smiling to themselves. Both knew that from now on, things would be so much better for Rose...even with all the alien threats out there still, at least Rose was happy now. And if Rose was happy, they were happy.

Silently closing the door behind her, Jackie looped her hand in Pete's and they both turned away towards the stairs, intending to get some sleep before work...which was alarmingly only a few hours away. Rose may not have to worry about getting up early in the morning, but they did.


	26. Breakfast in Bed

**Author Note: Hey guys! I'm really sorry that I haven't posted in ages...again, so this time, I'm gonna give you a special treat, just to appologise. I'm putting up 2 chapters, yes 2! I hope you enjoy they both, reviews are always welcomed - and firmly encouraged, hint hint - and as always...**

**Enjoy!**

**oOo**

When Rose woke the next morning, she found herself back in her room on the second floor.

As consciousness slowly pulled her from the very odd and rather disturbing dream she'd been having (a cyberman on a space hopper chasing her into a washing machine), she realised that although she was alone now, she hadn't been for long. In the half of the bed she wasn't lying in, there was still a light indent in the matress from a recently vacated body, and the sheets were still slightly warm.

Pulling herself into a sitting position that wasn't too painful for her poor battered body, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and looked around.

The clock on her bedside table informed her that it was 8:30am, the curtains were still closed, but a few streaks of sun had managed to work their way past the dark fabric, and a very familiar jacket was draped across the end of her bed.

Frowning at how and why said jacket had been carelessly thrown on her bed, she pondered for a moment on what was going on...what had happened last night?

And then she remembered.

She'd kissed Jack.

And then he'd carried her up to her bed.

But what had happened after that? She couldn't actually remember, which scared her slightly. Just as she was about to slip out of bed and investigate for herself, the bedroom door creaked open, a head peeped in, and then someone shuffled in backwards carrying a tray.

"Morning sleepy," Jack called happily as he placed the tray beside her bed, then went to the window, throwing the curtains wide open.

"Mornin' Jack," Rose replied, squinting against the sudden sunlight. By the time her eyes had adjusted, Jack had come back to sit on the bed with her, pulling the tray onto his lap. In the sunlight, Rose could now see what the tray contained. 2 boiled eggs, a rack of toast, 2 large mugs of coffee, 2 glasses of orange juice, that morning's paper, all her post and a single pink rose in a slim vase.

"Haven't forgotten anything have I?" Jack asked, scanning the tray. "Ah, yeah I have."

"What?" Rose asked. It seemed like Jack had put everything on the tray except the kitchen sink.

"I forgot this," he grinned, leaning over and giving her a gentle kiss on the lips. "Much better," he smiled, and Rose couldn't help but smile with him.

"What's all this for?" she asked, indicating the tray as he slid it onto her lap.

"Well you're officially incapacitated now, so someone's gotta take care of ya," Jack replied.

"You what? Oh, and Jack? What actually happened last night?"

"How d'you mean?"

"Well, I remember you carrying me upstairs, but that's it."

"Thats because that _was_ it. From the time it took me to carry you upstairs to your room, you'd crashed out...sound asleep...must have nodded off in my arms. So I lay you in your bed, hence the fact that you're still dressed - "

Rose peered under the covers to see that he was right. She hadn't even noticed until after he'd pointed it out.

" - and then as I'm about to leave, you start to toss and turn, and then you even start shouting something or other. I sit on your bed to make sure you're ok, and then I guess I must have crashed out too, coz next thing I know, I'm waking up beside you, and you're still having this bad dream. So I decide to make you breakfast in bed cozthere's nothing I can do to stop you having this dream, and I know you'll be needing something to cheer you up after."

"Oh...right. Thanks." Jack caught her awkward look and knew there was something else she wanted to say.

"What?"

"We didn't...did we?"

"Noooo," Jack replied with a shake of his head. "Don't worry, I'm not like that. I don't tend to suggest that until at least the fourth date, and seeing as this is only our first... Besides, you were too busy snoring and being cute and dreaming...but mostly snoring."

"I don't snore!" Rose replied petulantly, whacking his shoulder.

"Excuse me, but 'Chewbacca' comes to mind when describing what you were doing last night," Jack grinned, ducking the second swipe Rose aimed at him.

"I don't snore!" She protested firmly.

"Well if you don't then who was it I could hear?" Jack asked sarcastically.

"Have you looked under the bed?" Rose asked.

"What? Why?"

"Because I think you'll find the answer under there."

Frowning in confusion, Jack slipped off the bed and peered under to find Scooti and Ood curled up in Rose's huge bunny slippers - a kitten in each foot. Every now and then, Ood would wriggle and let out a loud snort.

"Oh," Jack said as realisation dawned. Crawling back out from under the bed, he gave Rose what he hoped was an appologetic look and sat back on the bed. Then his eyes visibly lit up as he remembered something that would hopefuly change the subject before he got himself into even more trouble.

"Guess what?! You're front page news! Take a look." he chucked the paper her way and took a slice of toast. Then he swung his legs up onto the bed so that he was reclining next to Rose. Rose unfolded the paper and looked at the front page.

_Torchwood's Rose Tyler released from hospital, 3 weeks after horror road accident._

"So much for Torchwood being top secret now," Rose muttered as Jack helped himself to one of the eggs, dunking his slice of toast into its runny yoke.

_Rose Tyler, daughter of billionaire business entrepreneur Pete Tyler, and hairdresser-to-the-stars, Jackie Tyler, was last night released from hospital, 3 weeks after she mysteriously stepped out infront of a pick-up truck on Westminster Bridge. Eye witnesses at the time said that she seemed to be in a daze...not completely aware of what was going on or what she was doing. _

_After being struck by the Ford pick-up truck, driven by 53 year old Ernie from Dorset, she was rushed to the Royal Hope Hospital, minutes away at the opposite end of the bridge. After lying in a comatosed state for three days, Miss Tyler finally awoke and after several scans and x-rays was released last night..._

Rose continued to read on, then flicked to page 7, where it said the story continued, whilst Jack helped himself to another slice of toast. Then she huffed in indignation and literally stabbed the page she was reading with her finger.

"Have you read this?!"

"Not yet," Jack admitted through a mouthful of toast. "Why? What's the matter?"

"That pompous git, Doctor Frankeinstein is what's the matter! Listen what he said about me! And get any crumbs in my bed, you're in serious trouble."

Jack quickly held his current slice of toast out away from the bed and tried to surreptitiously brush the crumbs off his lap.

"He said, and I quote '_Rose Tyler is a prime example of what this world has become, and unfortunately what we can look forward to for our future generations. She is full of wild delusions and ideas so far fetched they are impossible to imagine by any sane person. I don't care who she thinks she is, and I don't care how secret this organisation of hers is. The fact of the matter is, Rose Tyler is clinically insane, and deserves a one-way ticket to the psychiatric ward for her own protection, as well as everyone else's. There is no doubt in my mind that she stepped out infront of that van on purpose, although what her motivations were, I do not even want to try and guess.' _"

"Ouch," Jack winced at the harsh comments, and made a sympathetic face towards Rose, hoping she would not take her anger out on him. He'd been in her bad books before, and had no intention of getting back into them any time soon.

"What a git! As soon as I can walk, I'm gonna go down there and give him a piece of my mind...followed by a slap to make sure the information actually reaches that microscopic brain of his."

"Or you could just ignore him?" Jack suggested hopefully.

"How can I ignore that Jack? The guy called me a loony! And now millions of readers are gonna think I'm a complete fruit-loop because of what he said."

"Just...trust me. In a few days everyone will have forgotten all about it and moved on. You'll be old news...forgotten in a week."

"Promise?" she asked, knowing he was right, but not really willing to give up the fight that easily.

"Promise," he confirmed, giving her another quick peck on the cheek, which convinced her that, maybe for now, she could let it slip. "Now I have to go and actually do some work...unlike some people." He gave her a teasing look, and Rose couldn't help but smile as he left the room, grabbing his jacket on the way out.

"Oh Jack," she called out after him.

"Ya?" his head re-appeared round the door.

"If that was our first date, last night...then are we a couple now?"

Jack pondered for a moment. "Yeah, I guess we are,". Then he gave her the biggest grin he'd ever seen. "Rose Tyler, how would you like to be my girlfriend?"

"I'd love to." Rose's grin mirrored Jack's as he stood in the doorway.

"Fantastic!" And then he was gone again, and Rose settled back into her pillows with her mug of coffee, wondering what she could do that morning that wouldn't be hindered by the broken ribs, bruised spine or huge plaster cast on her foot. Unfortunately, this resulted in a list of things that she could count off on one finger.

"This is gonna be a long day," she sighed.


	27. A Picnic Without Food

The list of things that Rose discovered she could do during those next few weeks slowly began to grow until, by the end of the third week, she could actually count these activities on one hand. Because Jack had been so busy at Torchwood recently, covering for her and pulling double shifts to try and help a very stressed Pete, they hadn't actually gone on a second date yet. But Rose didn't mind, because as she'd told Jackie countless times, it wouldn't really be that special if she was hobbling round on crutches the entire time.

So she was very surprised when Jack finally decided to take her on a second date.

She'd been hobbling slowly down to the stable block at the end of the huge garden to see her horse, Bucephalus, when Jack had literally jumped on her from one of the bushes. Shrieking in shock, Rose dropped her crutches and stood balancing on one foot, trying to control her pounding heart, much to Jack's obvious amusement. When she'd recovered from the shock, however, she swiped him across the shoulder as payback, and then kissed him on the cheek lovingly.

"Where you going?" he asked as he helped her steady herself.

"The stables," she replied. "To see Bucephalus."

"Your horse?"

"Yeah. I don't see him as often as I should, and seeing as I now have all the time in the world, and nothing to do, I thought I'd start visiting him more."

"Want to make a date out of it?" Jack asked casually as he scooped her up in his arms and carried her down the path to the wooden stalls in the distance.

"How d'you mean?" Rose asked curiously as she wrapped her arms round his neck, enjoying the free ride.

"Well, Jackie said that you can still ride with that leg...apparently...so I was wondering if you wanted to go for a ride? Maybe have a picnic somewhere?"

"But we haven't packed anything," Rose pointed out, and Jack's face visibly fell for a moment. Then his eyes lit up once more.

"Ok, so its a picnic without the food. How about that?"

"Well, there's a first time for everything," Rose grinned.

"So its a date then?"

"If you want to call it that."

"Ah...one problem."

"What?"

"Which horse am I gonna ride?"

"You can ride Hidalgo."

"Who?"

"Hidalgo. He's my other horse."

"You have two?"

"Three actually. Bucephalus, Hidalgo and Troy."

"You really do pick weird names for your pets."

"I know."

"So how comes you've got three?"

"Because I bought Bucephalus, Hidalgo was a gift, and Troy was rescued."

"I see. So do Suki and Jack have horses too?"

"Yeah. Zig and Zag, the twins."

"So the twins have twin kittens _and _twin ponies? Crazy!"

"Tell me about it."

Jack was about to ask more about this very strange topic, when a high pitched whiny interupted, echoing across the field they were now walking through. Rose whistled back, and seconds later, a huge brown shire horse came thundering up the hill towards them, followed by a black horse with a long black mane, a brown and white patched horse, and two tiny brown horses.

"This is our extended family," Rose informed Jack as he gently set her on the floor again.

"Troy, the Shire. He was found tied to a pole in a field by the motorway. Dad and the police tried to trace his owner so they could prosecute them, but no-one was ever found, so the RSPCA allowed us to keep him."

Jack extended a hand to let the horse check out his scent. Then he began to gently pat the huge strong neck and powerful shoulder of what he couldn't deny was a truly magnificent beast.

"Then there's Bucephalus, the Andalucian. He's a right show off, but one of the most intelligent horses you will ever meet."

At the sound of his name, the black horse pricked his ears, arched his neck and puffed out his chest, making himself almost as tall and muscular as Troy, standing beside him. He shook his head up and down as if in agreement with Rose's description of him, sending his long flowing mane flying everywhere, and Jack laughed at this seemingly arrogant behaviour.

"Hidalgo, the Paint Mustang. Named after the horse they made a film about."

"The one that stared that guy from Lord of the Rings? Arathorn...Aragorn...or something."

This time it was the patchy horse's turn to nod in agreement. He stamped his foot and gave several loud snorts, as if trying to warn Jack that he was the boss around here, despite his obvious size disadvantage compared to the others.

"And then we've got Zig and Zag."

"You sure they're not clones?" Jack asked, amazed, as he peered at the pair of cheeky looking ponies. They were seemingly identical, even down to the little white spots in the very centre of their backs. Both ponies backed away from Jack at first, then slowly came forwards to investigate his pockets. When Jack pulled out half a packet of polos, they both squeeled in obvious delight, and Rose laughed.

"You're their hero now, you do realise?" she teased, and Jack looked absolutely horrified. He looked at his watch, needing a distraction, and then scooped Rose up into his arms again.

"C'mon. If we're gonna fit that ride in before sun down, we'd better get a shifty on."

"Sun down? Who calls it sun down?"

"Well what do you call it?" Jack asked.

Rose seemed lost for words for a moment, then replied, "Well, loads of things. Sun set, dusk, evening, night fall -"

"Alright, point taken," Jack interupted good naturedly as they made their way round the side of one large wooden building, and into the main stable yard - all five horses following behind looking for that elusive pack of mints that had somehow found their way back into Jack's pocket.

oOo

Rose had decided to ride Troy because he was the strongest and gentlest of the three, so he could easily manage the extra weight of her plaster cast, and she didn't really have to do much work, just sit ontop, hold on and let him follow Hidalgo - the boss. Her ride had been pleasant and uneventful, unlike Jack's.

It seemed that he and Hidalgo shared a difference in opinion over who was the boss. Every now and then the horse would buck, almost unseating his rider. Jack would shout and curse at the horse, who inturn would buck even harder. Then they'd finally start to get along and something in a nearby bush would spook Hidalgo, setting the whole sequence off again. By the time they'd reached the picnic location, Jack and Hidalgo were both sweating buckets, and it was hard to tell who was the most relieved after Jack finally jumped down from the saddle.

When he'd calmed down, however, he'd walked across to Rose, who'd watched the whole argument between man and beast with amusement, and had carefully helped her down, allowing the two horses to wander off and find some fresh grass to munch on.

"Isn't this beautiful?" Rose sighed a little later as she reclined - if rather inelegantly - in the long grass under a large oak tree, a few miles from Tyler Manor. Jack was sitting beside her fiddling with a long blade of grass, and Troy and Hidalgo grazed off to one side quietly, enjoying the slight evening breeze in their long flowing tails.

"Mmmm," Jack agreed as he stuck the blade of grass in his mouth and began to twiddle it with his tongue, reclining next to Rose with his arms behind his head. Then, much to Rose's surprise, he started humming. Rose lay there for a moment listening to him. He sounded so happy and carefree. And then she realised what song he was humming, and couldn't help but smile. She just had to join in. It wasn't an option. It was a desire. A need. A must.

_Can you feel the love tonight? _

_The peace the evening brings._

_The world, for the once, in perfect harmony._

_With all its living things._

Jack paused, mid song, and looked at her with a mixture of curiousity and admiration.

"You knew it? Didn't think you would."

"I once had a friend who liked the Lion King," Rose replied, as if this would explain everything. Jack seemed to accept this explanation, because he didn't say anything more about it. Instead he rolled over onto his side to face her.

"It was beautiful."

"What was?"

"Your singing. It was like listening to an angel."

"You're just saying that," Rose blushed madly, but Jack shook his head.

"No really. I mean it. It was beautiful...this place is beautiful..._you _are beautiful. So beautiful."

"Its only because I'm so in love," she replied softly, grinning at him as she turned slightly to face him better.

"No, its because I'm so in love with you," Jack countered.

"So love has blinded you?" Rose challenged, but in a teasing way that caused Jack to blush this time.

"Well, thats not exactly what I meant..."

"But it's probably true."

They both laughed then, and for Rose, it was a proper, feel good laugh. Not the usual slightly amused laugh that she was so used to.

"I haven't laughed in so long," Jack sighed after a while.

"Neither have I," Rose admitted softly. Then she shifted slightly closer to him so that he could put one arm around her shoulder, and they could lie back together and watch the last rays of sun disappear on the horizon.


	28. Shall I compare thee to a building?

Four weeks later, Rose was still thinking about that magical afternoon with Jack under the oak tree. She was still thinking about the ride home too. Back to Tyler Manor on the back of Troy, with Jack sitting infront, and leading Hidalgo behind so that Rose didn't have to worry about a thing.

Sitting behind him, her arms about his waist, her head resting on the back of his shoulders, she had felt safe and secure, perfectly content and...and what? What else had she been feeling? The feeling had been such a magical, wonderful one, and yet it was indescribable. How did you describe an indescribable feeling?

Now, four weeks later, she was finally free of her bandages and casts, and actually felt somewhat normal again - whatever normal felt like. Jack had decided that their third date together should be a celebration of this, and although he wouldn't tell her what he had planned, had asked her to dress up for the occasion. Rose had been quite excited by this mysterious request, but now she was having second thoughts. Was it too dressy? Not dressy enough? Too chic? Too casual? Too grand? If only Jack would tell her where they were going, she could choose a suitable outfit. But when she'd told Jack this, he'd laughed and told her that having to guess what outfit to wear was all part of the fun.

So here she was now, standing infront of her full length mirror, ignoring the irritated beeping of the cab outside, and wondering if this was a good idea. The dress she'd decided on after much deliberation was a simple yet elegant gown, low cut with beaded patterning all over the bodice and a floaty silk skirt. She was wearing a silver pendant that her mother had given her a few years ago as a birthday present, and was only now becoming aware - as she looked at herself in the mirror - just how much flesh she was actually showing. A wolf whistle from the door caught her attention, and she spun sharply on the spot to find Pete leaning against the door frame, smiling in admiration.

"Dad, you scared me," Rose blushed, grabbing her denim jacket from the end of her bed and throwing it on quickly, suddenly very self conscious.

"Leave it off," Pete encouraged gently. "It's perfect without it."

"Really? You don't think its a bit much, all this?" Rose asked, reluctantly taking off the jacket and gesturing to the dress she was wearing.

"You look beautiful," he replied softly. Then after a moment, he added. "Besides, you must be going somewhere grand. I've just seen what Jack's wearing."

"What?" Rose asked curiously as she ran a brush through her hair once more, while Pete watched.

"He borrowed one of my tuxedos."

"Jack's wearing a tuxedo?" Rose gasped, surprised. "What does he look like?"

"A penguin," Pete replied seriously. This seriousness lasted for about two seconds, however, before both he and Rose were in hysterics.

"He does though!" Pete protested after they'd composed themselves again, several minutes later.

"But I bet he's a very handsome penguin," Rose replied as she finished touching up her make-up. "You sure about the jacket?"

"Positive," Pete nodded. "Trust me on this." He gave her his cheesy thumbs up, and Rose rolled her eyes and groaned.

"Dad, I trust you on a lot of things...But I wouldn't count fashion as one of them."

Pete pretended to be insulted by this, which only made Rose laugh again. Then she took her small evening bag from the back of the chair and walked towards the door, as the cab outside let out another long beep, and Jack shouted something about her hurrying up - in the nicest possible way, of course.

"Your chariot awaits, Miss Tyler. May I have the pleasure of escorting you?" Pete asked in a very posh accent, extending his arm to his daughter, and Rose positively beamed as she looped her arm through his.

"I'd be delighted, Mr Tyler," she replied as they made their way downstairs.

oOo

Jack's surprise was at a place Rose had often heard of, but never visited, or even acknowledged before. The Calypso Dreamer was a floating restaurant, moored along one bank of the Thames, with tables both inside and outside for people to dine at. Live music was played throughout the night, and each table was lit with two candles in wine bottle holders. As Jack and Rose walked along the boarding ramp to the entrance and Jack informed the waiter of their reservations, Rose glanced across the calm water of the river and watched the reflections of the stars from above as they shimmered and rippled in the calm water.

She chose to ignore Jack's increased voice level as he and the waiter argued over the reservation, and whether it actually existed or not, and instead turned her attention to the flashing light of Torchwod Tower. Seeing it flashing rhythmically again gave her some small comfort. She'd hated looking across the London skyline each day and not being able to see it. To her, not being able to see that familiar flashing was like a boxer not seeing his gloves, or a jockey not seeing his horse. Without it, they would be stuffed. Unable to work, because what they needed to do their job wasn't there. This had been the same for Rose. Without Torchwood Tower, she'd been seriously limited in the amount of work she could actually do. Not that she'd really done any work during that time - but that was besides the point. She still felt better now that she could once again see that light flashing. The boxer had found his gloves, the jockey had found his horse, Rose had found her light, and everything was going to be fine.

Jack and the waiter soon settled their arguement and the pair were settled at a table out on the deck outside, seated across from each other. Two of the waitresses took their orders and served them their meals, while Jack began recounting some of the adventures he had known over the last ten years, training and serving with the Time Agency.

Rose listened attentively, captivated by Jack's flair for storytelling. She wanted to do more, though. She wanted to talk about them, and where they were going...where they were at. Was Jack really serious about being with her? But she could not begin - didn't have the heart to interrupt him - and so just allowed him to ramble on, contenting herself with enjoying his tales.

Dessert was Rose's favourite - banoffee pie with chocolate drizzled over the top, and whipped cream on the side. She grinned as the plate was placed infront of her, and then urged Jack to continue his remarkable story he'd been telling.

"Well, I said to this guy ' Hey buddy, why don't you pick on someone your own size?' and he turns to me and..." Jack paused to thank the waitress as she placed a large slice of apple pie infront of him, and then turned back to Rose, a wry smile on his face.

"And?" She urged, almost desperately.

"And he bursts out crying! Seriously! This fifty foot giant starts bawling like a baby and I don't have a hankie big enough for him, so he uses Norin's coat instead. The look on Norin's face was priceless!"

"No way!" Rose laughed, unsure whether to believe it or not.

"Seriously!" Jack insisted. "When my ship's fixed, I'll take you to meet him, and he'll tell you exactly the same!"

"Who? Norin?"

"No, the giant. Nice kid really. Lives in the 52nd Century Alps."

"And what about Norin? What happened to him?"

At this, Jack fell unusually silent, and Rose realised something must have happened.

"Jack?" she asked tentatively, afraid she may have upset him.

"Norin was killed...about four years ago now...He fell from a television mast at the Alexandra Palace. We were trying to stop this alien we called the Wire, and he fell..."

"Jack, I'm so sorry. I had no idea," Rose muttered, silently cursing herself for not taking the earlier hint.

"Yeah, well...how could you know. We'd had to travel way back to the 1950's to find it. Way before your time."

"During the Queen's coronation?"

"How did you...?" Jack asked, stunned.

"Met the parallel universe version. Got my face sucked off by her though, so I wasn't there to see how she was defeated. But the Doctor told me all about it afterwards," Rose shrugged.

"Trapping it in a video tape, then taping over it?"

"Yep," Rose grinned, and Jack grinned too. It seemed that he'd been momentarily distracted from his friend's death, and Rose, eager to keep him distracted, called for the bill.

"There's a great hotel I stayed in a few years ago, just down the road. When you stand out on the balcony, you can look out over the whole of London. At night, it's so beautiful," she explained after noticing Jack's quizzical look.

"Somehow I don't think the view could get any more beautiful," he replied softly, gazing at her. "But it sounds great anyway. Lead the way." He stood and extended his arm to her, much like Pete had earlier that evening, and they strolled from the restaurant together, leaving a large tip for the staff as thanks for a wonderful evening.

oOo

"You're right, it is beautiful," Jack said softly as he stepped out onto the balcony of the hotel room and looked out over London. He'd undone his bow tie so that it draped loosely round his neck now, and his jacket had been slung on the end of the bed with Rose's bag. "Shame I'm not really up to scratch on all these wonderful landmarks."

"Would you like me to tell you about them?" Rose asked as she stepped up to the railings to join him. She pointed to a building ahead of them. "That's the Old Bailey, also known as the Central Criminal Court. You can recognise it because of that statue of Justice on top."

As if realising that Rose was talking about it, the bronze statue seemed to gleam even brighter in the moonlight - a blindfolded woman with her arms extended straight out to either side, the scales of justice suspended from her left hand, the fearsome judicial sword rising from the right.

"Dad says I'm like her in some ways," Rose shrugged, obviously not seeing the connection. But now that she'd said it, Jack saw it instantly. Justice held scales in one hand to weigh out the arguements for and against a case, and held a sword to show power and the lack of fear in dealing out punishment if it was deserved. The blindfold ensured that she did not favour an individual over everyone else. Although Rose didn't have these physical objects to help her, he'd seen her judging a situation - listening to both sides of the story first and weighing them against each other. If punishment was necessary or deserved, she had the power to do it, and wasn't afraid to either. And she never favoured one person over everyone else. In the time he'd known her, he'd seen these qualities in her so clearly.

"I think he's right," he nodded at last, after what seemed like an age. Rose looked bemused by this, unsure if it was a compliment or not, and then decided to change the subject slightly. Pointing a little to the right, she indicated the dome of St Paul's Cathedral.

"A phoenix rising up from the ashes of devastation," Jack observed. "Again, a little like you."

"Jack, comparing me to buildings and statues is slightly unnerving," Rose laughed nervously, and Jack blushed.

"I'm sorry. Its just that each of these buildings has a special quality that makes it unique and special...I see a lot of those qualities in you too."

"Really?" Again, Rose was unsure if this was a compliment or not. She quickly ran through the rest of the sights that could be seen from their viewpoint before Jack could compare her to any more buildings, and then turned away, looking for another distraction.

"A more perfect stage could not be set," Jack muttered as he pulled his bow off completely and dropped it onto the floor, just as Rose turned back to him.

"What?"

"Nothing," Jack replied, seeming to snap out of some sort of trance. Then he pulled her to him, so quickly she didn't have time to protest. Before she knew what was happening, he was kissing her softly on the lips. Although tense at first because of the shock, Rose quickly relaxed and kissed him back lovingly, wrapping her arms about his neck. She could feel him slowly guiding her back inside the hotel room as his hands gently stroked her hair, and once back inside, she had to pull back to gasp for air.

"What happened to the fourth date rule?" she gasped as she rested her forehead against his.

"Well I was thinking," he replied, equally as out of breath. "This _is _our fourth date, if you count Rome as our first. Kind of...if you see what I mean?"

Rose didn't see what he meant, because that hadn't been a date. That had been a mistake. But his wandering hands soon found the soft spot at the back of her neck, and the tickling that followed was enough to change her mind.

"Works for me," she giggled kissing him again, and getting revenge at the same time by tickling his chin as she undid his top button. Jack squirmed and tried to escape her hands, whilst maintaining the kiss at the same time. This was easier said than done, and the pair soon lost their balance, toppling into a tangled heap on the bed, laughing, tickling, kissing, giggling and kissing some more.


	29. Dreams and Snow

**Author Note: AAAARH! I did it again! Posted the last chapter without one of these! Oh well...don't think I really had anything important to say, apart from thanks so much for your continued support...I promise that this story will start answering some of the questions soon, but for now, just enjoy a little more romance and drama.**

**And as always, enjoy!**

**oOo**

Rose woke suddenly, alone in the large hotel bed. She lay still for a moment, gathering her thoughts.

She hadn't slept well for weeks, not since the accident at least, because of the pain she'd constantly been in. But this time something felt different...wrong. She wasn't, as far as she could tell, in any kind of pain. But something had woken her. Then she realised what it was. She was _alone_.

"Jack?"

No response. Frowning, Rose slipped out of bed, wrapping the bed sheet tighter round her as she did so. After all...that dress wasn't easy to slip into...and she didn't want to waste precious time getting dressed for the sake of a few minutes, just trying to find her missing boyfriend. So she made do with the bed sheet as a kind of make-shift robe. Then she went in search of the Captain.

She found him on the balcony, looking out at the lights of London. Tonight, the glowing strings of light were patchy. A thick fog had settled in the streets below, and the city had become swamped in grey murkyness that not even the brightest lights could penetrate. In the hours after their arrival at the hotel, the weather had changed so dramatically that if Rose hadn't been so worried about Jack, she'd have been worrying about this sudden change of weather instead - insisting it was some kind of bad omen.

But she joined Jack at the railings instead. He didn't look at her, even when she took his hand, but she could see light reflecting from the shine on his cheeks. He had been weeping.

"What's bothering you?" she asked softly.

"Nothing," Jack replied, his voice low.

"Jack," Rose said, very gently, squeezing his hand slightly. "How long is it going to take for us to be honest with each other? You can tell me anything. You know that, don't you? Anything at all."

For a moment she thought he would remain silent.

"It was a dream," he said at last. He spoke heavily, as if saying the words made something real. Something that he would prefer to disbelieve.

"Bad?" she asked cautiously. She knew what bad dreams were like. She was plagued by them all the time. But they'd never affected her like this one was so clearly affecting Jack.

"Like the ones I used to have after Norin died."

Rose caught her breath. Jack had told her about his dreams...the suffering and torment that he'd endured for weeks after the death of his friend. The dreams had driven him to go back in time and try to save Norin. However, the Time Agency had found out and caught him, forbidding him from doing anything to help his friend because it could cause all sorts of trouble to the timeline. And so he'd had to watch his friend fall to his death all over again, knowing that he could save him, but at the same time jeopardize the entire Universe. Rose knew that he'd never forgiven himself...had never forgiven the Time Agency either. But looking at him now, she didn't think it was the memory of his failure that was upsetting him.

"And?" she prodded gently.

Jack swallowed hard. "It was about you."

_Me? _Rose felt a cold chill run down her spine, and shuddered. This wasn't what she'd expected. Jack didn't seem to notice this, however, as he continued to stare out over the skyline.

"Tell me."

"It was only a dream," he said, looking at her. Then he quickly looked away again.

_If it was only a dream, why are you so unhappy? _But Rose didn't say this aloud, because she knew that it would only upset him more. So she waited.

After a moment, Jack took a deep breath. "You die...just after childbirth. Give your life to save the planet," he said flatly, refusing to look at her.

"And the baby?" Rose spoke automatically, before she'd even thought about it. She didn't even know why she'd asked, because there was no baby. And as far as she was concerned, there wouldn't be one for a long time yet.

"I don't know." Jack seemed to be thinking along the same lines.

"It was only a dream," Rose said, but she didn't believe it any more than Jack did. "I'm not pregnant...I'm not going to die before, during or after childbirth either."

"But you'd die to save the planet?"

"Wouldn't you?" she asked seriously, forcing him to look at her once more.

"Yes," he nodded after a moment of silent consideration.

"I can't promise I won't die, Jack, because all death is certain, if you wait long enough. But I can promise that I don't intend to die anytime soon if I can help it."

Jack moved closer and put his arms round her. "And I won't let you leave our child motherless. Just promise me you won't leave me?"

"Jack, I'm not pregnant," Rose reassured him. "So this..._premonition _of yours...well it's not going to happen any time soon, is it. I mean, who's to say I'll ever have children? I want to, of course, but..." She was floundering, unsure of what she was really trying to say. "I'm not going to die," she stated firmly after a moment.

"No. You're not," Jack nodded in agreement, feeling slightly more relaxed now. "We should get some sleep," he added, glancing at his watch. "You haven't been sleeping well these past few weeks."

"Neither have you from the sounds of it."

"Tell me about your dreams."

"There's not much to tell," Rose sighed, taking his hand and leading him back inside. "They're always the same."

"Tell me."

"Well...Its a dark forest, and I'm running. There's a cyberman on a space hopper...and he always seems to chase me into a washing machine that just appears out of nowhere. Then I guess I must wake up some time after that."

She felt Jack shudder, and wondered if he was cold, or weeping again. But when she looked at him, she saw that he was laughing. Actually laughing.

"It's not funny!" she protested.

"Sure it is!" he chuckled. "Its just plain stupid...thats what makes it so funny! I mean come on...for a start, how many cybermen do you know who own space hoppers? And don't even get me started on washing machines that appear out of nowhere!"

When she thought about it, Rose did see the funny side. Jack was right. A cyberman on a space hopper wasn't scary. It was downright stupid. And washing machines didn't appear out of nowhere either. Soon she was laughing along with him, and as she climbed back into bed and drifted off to sleep again, she was no longer plagued by a nightmare...but by a rather hysterical dream that let her sleep right through to the morning, when she woke in a surprisingly cheery mood.

oOo

Four days later, however, this happy mood had long since past, and Rose was being downright stroppy again. Just because she'd fallen ill at some stage (although she wasn't entirely sure when), the fog over London had turned into thick snow that made it impossible to move anywhere at a pace faster than walking speed, and Pete was forcing her to work because they were short staffed now that so many Torchwood staff were snowed in by this freak and sudden weather.

Each morning, she'd drag herself out of bed, spend at least an hour in the bathroom throwing up, try to tidy herself up a bit and make herself look decent, then go to work, sit behind her desk and feel utterly miserable for the rest of the day, watching as more snowflakes flluttered down past the window.

She hated being ill. And this time, she didn't even know how she'd caught whatever it was that she'd caught. Sickness, loss of appetite, exhaustion, hot and cold flushes, weakness in her muscles and limbs, no motivation to even get out of bed in the mornings...perhaps it was food poisoning from the restaurant? Sometimes it could take days for the poisoning to really start taking effect. Or maybe it was flu? She had built a snowman with Jack and the twins out in the garden Monday morning before work, only for it to turn into a snowball fight that pitted the girls against the boys - the girls winning, naturally. Smiling at the memory, Rose was surprised to feel her mood begin to lighten a little.

Jack looked up from his desk - which had been moved into Rose's office because there was nowhere else for it to go - and grinned.

"Was that a smile?"

"No," Rose snapped immediately, forcing her face into a serious expression once more.

"Yeah it was. You were smiling."

"No I wasn't. I was..._wincing_."

"Wincing?"

"In pain. Throwing up for at least an hour every morning doesn't do your insides a whole lot of good, you know."

"If you're really that ill, go to the doctors...or the hospital. Which ever's nearer."

"I can't," she groaned, holding her head in her hands and trying to fight back the sudden onset of nausea again. "Dad'll go loopy."

"Not if he doesn't know," Jack replied, closing down the screen of his laptop. "I can cover for you...say you're investigating a tip off about some alien artefact."

"Well, I could, but..."

"Rose? What have you been doing all day? Sitting at your desk feeling sorry for yourself. Pete's hardly noticed you all day. I'm sure he won't notice that you've popped out for a few hours either."

"I s'pose," Rose nodded. "But how am I gonna get through the snow? My new car wasn't designed as a snow plough."

This was true. With the compensation money she'd received from her old car, which had been buried under the collapsed tower, plus a few months wages, Rose had decided to treat herself to a flashy Porshe 911GT. This was great for speed and style, but naff at pushing through the thick snow. She'd had to walk to work every day this week, along with Pete, Mickey and Jack, because none of them could get their cars out of the garage, not even Pete with his battered Jeep. This could explain why her flu-like illness had gradually worsened.

"Take one of the SUV's," Jack suggested, after thinking for a minute. "If you're investigating a tip-off, its standard proceedure anyway. Would add to the authenticity of your lie."

"The inch of truth," Rose agreed.

"The what?"

"The inch of truth. Every convincing lie has a tiny bit of truth to it, which makes it believable. For example, if I were to go to the doctors, but say I was investigating a scene, someone would see that I have taken the SUV and assume I'd been telling the truth."

"Ah, I see. I hadn't noticed that before."

"Behind every good lie is an inch of truth," Rose nodded. "If there isn't, then it's not a good lie and no-one will believe it."

"Strangely, that makes sense," Jack grinned. "Go on, you'd better go now before Pete gives you something to do."

"Right," Rose nodded, shutting down her own computer and shoving her files back in her drawer. Then she grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair, and her bag from the cupboard. "See you later."

"Good luck. Hope it's nothing serious," Jack called after her.

When he was sure she was well out of the way, he pulled a small tin box from his desk and popped the lid open. Inside were tools and electrical components, and the bag of sonic crystals from his demolished blaster. He set to work on a long, thin tube-like device that looked like a blue ceramic wand with a blue tip. In a seperate compartment of the box sat a small silver ring with one of the blue sonic crystals set into the top.

oOo

Rose wandered through the SUV lock-up deep down under Torchwood Tower, wondering which vehicle she could get away with taking, without raising suspicion. Although each formidable looking, black, converted range rover looked the same, with tinted windows, blue lights along the A-frames, and an engraved T in the bodywork, each vehicle was slightly different. Some had heavy duty rescue equipment. Some had larger engines and lighter bodyworks for speed. Some had computers that linked directly to Torchwood and various databases, including those operated by the police. Some had medi-packs and medical equipment. And some had forensic equipment much more technologically advanced and accurate than anything the SOCO - Scene Of Crime Officers - ever used.

Rose couldn't decide. Did she take HD-64 - the Heavy Duty Rescue unit to help her get through the snow? Or did she take FE-92 - the Forensic unit, to make her lie even more believable? Just as she was pondering over her small dilemma, the door behind her opened and Rich, the mechanical engineer, wandered in. He was in charge of making sure each of the vehicles owned by Torchwood were kept in full working order - carrying out repairs when necessary. He knew these cars back-to-front and inside-out, and if anyone could help Rose to decide, he could.

"Hey Rich!" she called over to him, and he jumped.

"Miss Tyler, I didn't see you there," he replied, placing his toolbox on a nearby workbench, then wandering over to join her. "What brings you down here? I didn't think you ever came down as far as this."

"I don't...usually. But, well, I've received a tip-off about an alien artefact and, I need to go and investigate it personally, because from the sounds of it...its dangerous." This lie sounded fake to her own ears, but Rich must have been convinced, because he nodded in understanding.

"Ah, I see. And you're wondering which unit to take?"

"Yes! How did you - ?" Rose was stunned.

"I could see it in your eyes," he replied matter of factly.

"Am I that easy to read then?" she asked, but not in an unkind way.

"Not at all!" he gasped, suddenly afraid he'd upset her. "Its just...well...the eyes are the window to a person's soul. You can tell a lot from looking into someone's eyes."

_Tell me about it,_ Rose almost replied, but she bit her tongue and instead informed Rich of her two vehicle choices, then let him give each of them a quick glance over.

"I'd say you're better off with HD-64," he informed her at last. "It's the best bet of getting through this damned snow. But you can always take a couple of kits from FE-92 if you want? I won't tell."

Rose couldn't tell him that there would be no need because she didn't actually need them, so she nodded instead and Rich fetched her the keys from the safe, and a couple of the forensic kits from the other car. Then, as Rose climbed into the driver's seat and adjusted it to suit her, he flicked a switch and a hatch opened up in the ceiling, fifty feet above. A blast of cold air shot in, carrying hundreds of snowflakes with it, and when Rose looked up, all she could see was a wall of snow, which was now falling through the roof.

"Good luck!" Rich called over the howling wind as he protected his head from the snow with a clipboard and pressed a button on the same control panel that had opened the door in the roof. The floor in which the car was standing on began to raise. It was a gigantic lift, carrying Rose to the surface.

As the lift ascended, she turned the heater up full blast, and tuned the radio in to the local radio station as best she could under the dire weather conditions. The traffic report warned her of several accidents blocking roads and streets all around London, so while she waited for the plaform to reach it's destination, she programmed an address into the car's very sophisticated Sat-Nav. It chose the quickest route to the doctor's, whilst avoiding all of the accidents and most of the traffic jams, which Rose was pretty impressed by. When the platform had finally completed its ascention, Rose carefully drove off it, down onto the main car park at the back of Torchwood Tower. And then she was off, into the city itself - the SUV making short work of the built up snow.


	30. Coming to Terms

**Author Note: My friends! Due to a series of rather unfortunate circumstances that disabled me from getting to the computer to update this for quite some time now, I can only appologise! I'm so sorry to have left you like that, for so long! But I'm back now, and so the story shall be taken off pause and played once more, lol...and although this is only a short chapter, I hope you enjoy it and continue to be fantastic, as always.**

**ENJOY!**

**oOo**

A few months later, Rose was only just starting to come to terms with the news she'd been given at the doctors. She couldn't believe it, and had asked for the test to be retaken three times, only for the same news to be confirmed each time.

Now she was sitting in her office in Torchwood Tower, supposedly looking through some more files that had been left on her desk. But her mind was continually distracted and in the end she gave up, pushing them away to the edge of the desk and sighing.

"Something wrong?" Jack asked as he looked up from his own desk. Unlike Rose, he actually _was _reading through the files that had been left for him.

"Not really," she sighed. "I just...don't feel any different, that's all. I don't feel like it's real. You know, I keep thinking that at any moment I'll wake up and it'll all be some kind of nightmare that hasn't happened."

"Is it really so bad?" Jack asked. "You're not gonna die...I've told you that already...and chances are you won't change that much anyway."

"And you're sure about that, are you?" Rose asked, eyebrows raised. "Look, I've started to change already!" She made a vague sweeping gesture up and down her body with one hand, as if to emphasise this point.

Jack grinned and pushed his own pile of files to the edge of the desk, as she got up and walked over to him. "I'll still love you, no matter what you look like," he grinned.

Sitting herself on the desk in the space he'd just cleared, she leant down and kissed him on the cheek. "Promise?"

"Promise," he nodded. Then a curious look came over his face. "...I can't imagine what it looked like when they scanned you - having this little person growing inside you...weird. You think the world can't get any stranger and then it does. I like that."

"Can you smell fish?" Rose asked, getting up to look out of the window.

Jack blinked. "I think you just proved my point."

Realising what he'd said, Rose laughed and shook her head. "No, I didn't mean it like that. I meant...well what I said actually. Can you smell fish?"

Jack sniffed a little and caught the whiff of fish from somewhere. "Yeah? So what?" he shrugged, getting up and joining her at the window, where he wrapped his arms around her waist and leant his chin on her shoulder. Placing a hand on her belly, he smiled when he felt the tiny bulge beginning to form. There was no movement of the baby inside, yet, but still, he liked to imagine that he could feel his child as it grew inside the woman he loved so much.

"Jack, we're fifty floors up...I doubt we'd be able to smell the local fish market from this high up," Rose continued, oblivious to the wondrous feeling Jack was experiencing as he imagined what his child would turn out like.

"It's a hot day...everything smells on a hot day," he shrugged at last, snapping out of his trance. "Its the heat that does it...makes everything sweat."

Since that week of snow, months before, the weather had not been the same since, and today was no exception. It was swelteringly hot, and had already scorched up a record as being the hottest day of the century, even though it was only 9 o'clock in the morning. Despite the formal dress code of Torchwood, everyone had turned up for work in shorts and t-shirts. Rose and Jack were no exception to this, and now that she was pregnant, Rose was determined to enjoy some of her more...'revealing' clothes whilst she still could. Her top left her midriff very exposed, along with her shoulders and pretty much most of her back too, and her shorts were barely long enough to be considered anything other than a rather fat belt, according to her mother, but Rose really didn't care. It was hot...too hot really...and in her fragile condition she didn't want to risk the chance of overheating.

Placing her own hand over Jack's which continued to rest on her exposed belly, she smiled and turned her head a little, so that she could kiss him once again on the cheek.

"Are you saying I smell then?" she asked teasingly, and for a moment Jack looked positively alarmed, realising the trap he'd caught himself in.

"Not at all...well you do...but it's not a bad smell. It's more of a floral one...kind of sweet actually...reminds me of roses."

"That would be my deodorant," Rose laughed. "But good save."

"Thanks," Jack grinned. "Come on...this isn't getting our work done, is it."

"Hey, I have an excuse," Rose protested as he began to walk back to his desk.

"Yeah? And what's that?" Jack asked curiously. Rose just motioned to her belly once again, with a sly grin.

"Pregnant women have gotta take it easy...so no overworking for me. I think I'll just sit over here and drink some coffee while I watch you work." She was taunting him, and he knew it. Despite trying to resist rising to her bait, he simply couldn't help it.

"Utterly deceptive twaddle-speak, says I." he replied, joining her at the coffee machine. "I'm just gonna sit here with you and - "

"Jack, are you pregnant?" Rose cut in.

"No." Jack replied, as if unsure that this wasn't a trick question.

"Then you have no excuse."

"Ah." Realising that she was right and her arguement was won, he gave up. "Women!" he exclaimed in annoyance as he went back to his desk.

"You know you love me really," Rose smiled sweetly at him, and he groaned, knowing that he couldn't possibly stay mad at her forever.

"Women!" he repeated, only this time he had a huge grin on his face.

oOo

"I hope you're taking good care of my grandchild!" Jackie Tyler exclaimed almost as soon as Rose stepped through the door of Pete's office, later that morning.

Startled, Rose almost leapt out of her skin, before realising what had happened. "Bloody hell, Mum! Keep doing that and there won't be no grandchild left to take care of!"

"Hey, don't joke about stuff like that," Jackie replied seriously as she crossed the room and wrapped her arms round Rose.

"Who says I'm joking?" Rose muttered into her mother's shoulder, but either Jackie didn't hear, or chose to ignore it, because she said nothing.

"Come on Jacks...give the girl a chance to breath," Pete said quietly, as he prized mother and daughter apart, then offered Rose a hug of his own. "How are you feeling?"

"Much better this morning," Rose smiled, remembering how rough she'd been feeling the past few weeks, and how she was actually feeling much better today. "Although I can't concentrate on those files you gave me."

"Don't worry about them," Pete said, waving a hand as if to dismiss them from the conversation. "They're not important. What is important is what you're gonna do now that you're carrying our first grandchild?"

"I can still work, Dad!" she protested quickly, sensing where this might be heading. Noticing the look that Pete and Jackie shared, she knew what they were thinking, and it wasn't good."I can still do stuff! Please? Come on...It's not like I'm a cripple or anything!"

"Rose...what if you get hurt again? What if you lose the baby? Could you live with yourself if that happened? Knowing that if you'd stayed off work and taken it easy, it might never have happened?" Jackie asked softly as the three of them moved away from the doorway, over to the desk. Rose threw herself into one of the chairs in annoyance, glaring at her parents. They'd already had this conversation before, and it hadn't gone well on Rose's part then either...it seemed like today was heading the same way.

"I'm not a child anymore...I know what I'm doing...and I thought you trusted me?"

"We do, sweetie - " Pete started, but Rose cut him off.

"So why are you trying to wrap me up in cotton wool, Dad? I can take care of myself! I don't need you to do that for me!" she stormed, banging a fist angrily on the arm of the chair. "This is my life! Stop trying to live it for me!"

"Rose...we care about you. That's all...we don't want anything to happen to you or Rosso," Jackie tried to re-assure and calm her daughter. It might have worked, had she not made one fatal mistake.

"Rosso? You're even naming the bloody thing for me now? I can't believe you two!" Standing up so fast that her chair tipped over backwards, Rose kicked it angrily out of the way and stormed from the room, slamming the door behind her.

"Well, that went as well as could be expected, didn't it," Pete sighed.

"You think?" Jackie snapped, glaring at the door her volatile young daughter had recently vacated through. "Why won't she listen to us?"

"She's young and naive...she doesn't like it when things don't go her way," Pete sighed. "She needs something harsh to snap her back to reality...unfortunately in this case, I'm hoping to God nothing like that will happen."

"Me too. It would not only destroy us...but her too. I can see in her eyes, she's ready to be a mother," Jackie sighed. "She reminds me of me, when I was that age."

"Well, maybe that's not such a bad thing," Pete smiled, wrapping an arm round her, then kissing her tenderly. "I'll have another go later...see if I can't talk some sense into her."


	31. The Walking Doodle

**AuthorNote: Here you go guys...a longer chapter to hopefully keep you going for a while...**

**Enjoy, as always! XD**

**oOo**

Pete eventually managed to speak to Rose again, later that evening back at Tyler Manor. She was sitting on the bench under the japanese maple, just relaxing in the warm glow of the evening sun.

"You calmed down now? Is it safe to talk?" he asked, only half jokingly, as he sat next to her on the bench. Rose nodded, but said nothing, wondering what more her father could possibly want to say to her. Hadn't she made herself clear enough earlier?

Pete looked at her for a moment, then looked to the playhouse where Suki and Jack Jnr were in the midst of a wild game of tag.

"Your mother and I...we're just worried about you, Rose. We've seen you get hurt so many times before...and we just want to stop you getting hurt again. It destroys us each time we see you in pain."

"I know," Rose nodded again.

For a moment they sat in silence, before Pete glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. Clearly she wasn't going to talk. So he needed some way to kick start the conversation.

"So the Earth's in danger of alien invasion, but not to fear, for Rose Tyler will put it all right."

Rose turned to him then, somewhat surprised by the level of sarcasm in his tone.

"That's what you do, right?" he added innocently.

"It's what I try to do," she nodded, confused. What was his point? What was he getting at?

"It's _all_ you try to do,"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rose asked, her face twisting with puzzlement. "I'm a Torchwood Agent, after all."

"A Torchwood Agent after a Time Traveller, and probably with many more offices ahead of her," Pete said. He looked back at the playhouse, and called for Suki and Jack to ease up, because they were getting a little too loud. He also needed to hide the slight smile, at the fact that his idea had worked.

"You speak as if it's a bad thing," Rose remarked.

Yelling at the twins to calm down, again, he looked back at her in earnest. "It's a great thing," he said, "If you're doing it for all the right reasons."

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

Pete shrugged then, as if he wasn't quite sure. "I think you've convinced yourself that you're indispensable to Torchwood," he said. "That it couldn't survive without you."

"Dad!"

"It's true!" Pete insisted. "You give and give and give and give. Don't you ever want to take, just a little?"

Rose's smile showed that Pete's words had caught her off guard. "Take what?"

Pete looked at Suki and Jack. "Look at them. I see the sparkle in your eyes when you watch my children. I know how much you love them."

"Of course I do!"

"Wouldn't you want the same happy upbringing for your children? A safe, loving home for them to live in, without fear that one day, their mum might be killed by an alien?"

Rose sat up straight, her eyes going wide. "I..." she started, and stopped, several times. "I'm working right now for something I deeply believe in. For something that's important...alien or not..."

"After this is settled...after this threat is far behind you, you'll find something else to deeply believe in, something else that's really important. Something that concerns Torchwood and the rest of the world, more than it really concerns you."

"How can you say that?"

"Because it's true, and you know it's true. When are you going to do something just for yourself?"

"I am."

"You know what I mean."

Rose gave a little laugh and a shake of her head, and turned back to Suki and Jack. "Is everyone to be defined by their children?" she asked, with a sigh.

"Of course not," Pete replied. "It's not that at all. Or not just that. I'm talking about something bigger, Rose. You spend all of your time worrying about the problems of other people...of this alien's dispute with that alien...or whether this agent is acting fairly towards that agent. All of your energy is being thrown out there to try to make the lives of everyone else better."

"What's wrong with that?"

What about _your _life?" Pete asked in all seriousness. "What about Rose Tyler? Have you even thought about what might make your life better? Most people, if they'd gone through what you've been through, would have retired by now. I know you get satisfaction in helping other people. That's pretty obvious. But what about something deeper for you? What about love, Rose? And yes, what about a better life for your kids? Have you ever thought about it? Have you even wondered what it might be like for you to settle down and concern yourself with those things that will make your own life fuller?"

Rose wanted to retort that her life didn't need to be any fuller, but she found herself holding back the words. Somehow they seemed hollow to her at that particular moment, watching her siblings romp about in the back garden of the house, now jumping all over poor Scooti, who'd gone to find a quiet spot to read her book.

For the first time in many days, Rose's thoughts roamed free of her responsibilities, free of the important work she should be doing to try and solve these interlinking mysteries that kept cropping up at the most inconvenient times. Somehow the words _Torchwood _and _time windows _couldn't filter through the whimsical song that Jack and Suki were then making up about Scooti, who'd given up on her book and decided to join the kids in their playhouse.

A hand absently ran over her stomach, smiling at the slight bulge that was only just appearing.

Did she want a better life for her children? Of course she did...but was she prepared to give up Torchwood for them? She wasn't so sure. Torchwood was her life. It had given her a new meaning after she'd been cruelly ripped away from the man she'd vowed to spend the rest of her life with. And her father was wrong. Torchwood _couldn't _survive without her. Not for long.

oOo

Pete just sat and watched Rose in silence. She was obviously deep in thought...about what he'd just said? Or about something else? It didn't really matter. At least he'd got through to her now...planted a few ideas in her head...opened up more options for her. Because she couldn't stay at Torchwood forever. No matter how much she told herself - and everyone else - that she would.

Noticing that Captain Jack had arrived home, and was now walking across the lawn towards them, Pete stood up to make room for the Captain.

"Everything alright?" Jack asked when he saw the thoughtful expression on Rose's face, and the slightly smug look on Pete's.

"Everything's fine," Pete nodded. "I'll leave you two alone, shall I?"

Before either could answer, he'd started off back towards the Manor House. Jack watched him, puzzled for a moment. Then he sat beside Rose and wrapped an arm round her shoulder.

"What was all that about?"

"We were just talking," Rose replied quietly as she leant her head on his shoulder. "About Torchwood...and families..."

"Ah," Jack nodded in understanding. He'd heard about the arguement earlier, and was glad that this time, things had apparently gone a little more smoothly. "And?"

"And now I'm not sure," Rose shrugged. "I mean, Dad's right...family should come first. And having both parents in danger each day, knowing that at any moment their child could become an orphan, isn't really an idea that appeals to me."

"But?" Jack asked, sensing that she wasn't finished.

"But Torchwood's my life, Jack. I can't give up on it...not now."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I don't know," she shrugged again. "What do you think?"

"I think that until this baby is born...we shouldn't worry. Cross that bridge when we get to it, just like we do with every other bridge that poses us a problem."

"I guess," Rose sighed. She closed her eyes then, and relaxed - enjoying the last of the sun's warm rays on her face as it slowly disappeared behind the forest in the distance.

oOo

Eventually, when it became too dark to see anything anymore, the pair of them got up and followed Scooti and the twins back inside. But instead of going to sit with everyone else in the living room, to watch a film, Rose slipped away and sat in the study with her laptop and a few of the case files she'd brought home. She also had a notepad with a few scribbled questions.

_Cassandra and Chip...come though time window? Why? And why tell everyone I'm dead? Are they parallel versions? How do they know me?_

_Strange weather...what is going on?_

_Krillitaines in Rome? How? And how did they know me?_

_Torchwood Tower #1 blown up...why? And by Cassandra? Or someone else?_

_Clockwork droids...where are they now? Have the time windows closed? Have they found Pompadour?_

Logging on to the internet, she began to search randomly for things, typing words like 'Alien', 'Krillitaine' and 'Torchwood' into the search engines, just to see what would come up. Most of the stuff was useless information about people claiming to have been possessed by aliens, seeing aliens in the sky, etc. The usual rubbish that Rose had to deal with every day. But occasionally she'd find something of interest, and jot it down on the notepad.

_Remains of giant bat creature found buried with Roman mosaic...Krillitaine?_

_Weather anomalies...only happening in London_

_Explosions seen on wasteland...alien?_

_Man killed by alien...where was Torchwood?_

_Electrician's van stolen - eyewitnesses describe thief as 'walking doodle'_

After about an hour of trawling through endless websites, forums and blogs, Rose was still none the wiser about what the hell was going on. Logging in to her Torchwood database, she checked her e-mail for any new leads, but there was nothing, so eventually she shut down the laptop and sighed, picking up the notepad to re-read the notes she'd scribbled.

There was no doubt in her mind that the 'Giant bat creature' was one of the Krillitaines, which again raised the question, how did they know of her and how did they get to Ancient Rome? And then she began to look at the rest of the notes.

"Man killed by alien? Why wasn't I informed of this?" she muttered, logging in to the Torchwood database again. But there was nothing. So she decided to hack the police systems and see if she could find anything there. Again, nothing. Rose was beginning to think it must just be a hoax...or a case of mistaken identity. It was surprising how many people were accused of being alien these days, just because of their looks.

"Having fun?" a voice said from the doorway, and Rose jumped, startled by the sudden interuption. Swiveling the chair round to face the door, she found Mickey grinning. "Scared ya, didn't I."

"Just a little," she admitted with a laugh.

"So, what you doing? You missed a good film. Don't tell me you're doing boring _work_?" He said the last word as if it were an undesirable one, that left a bitter taste in his mouth.

"Yes, actually, I am," Rose retorted with a grin. "But it's hopeless."

"What you found so far, then?" he asked as he pulled up one of the other chairs and took the notepad from her. "This what you've found out so far?"

"And what I also need to find out, before I can start to unravel this mystery," she sighed. "But like I said, it's hopeless. None of it makes any sense. There's questions without answers, and answers without questions."

"Take a break, Rose," Mickey said as he handed the stuff back to her. "You've had a long day...just take a break from all this work stuff. The others are playing Monopoly now. Come and join us." He stood up and offered a hand to her, and Rose noticed that he'd been 'doodled' on by the twins. They'd been desperate to try out their new felt tip pens, and it looked like Mickey had been the poor unfortunate target.

"Hang on," she said, staring at his hand. "Doodle...walking doodle...I've heard that before..."

"What?" Mickey asked as he looked at his hand. "Huh? Rose, I'm thinking you've lost the plot, girl."

"No...no...I swear I've heard someone say that before..."

"Just leave it, Rose...come on...you can be the ice skate?"

"Well with an offer like that, how can I refuse?" Rose laughed as she allowed Mickey to pull her from the chair. But her mind was still trying to think of where she'd heard that name before. It bugged her, and until she knew the answer, it would continue to bug her.

oOo

"Chip!" Rose suddenly declared in the middle of the night, sitting bolt upright in bed. Jack lurched awake and looked about frantically in a blind panic, then lost his balance and tumbled from the bed, dragging all the covers with him, and ending up in a tangled heap on the floor. Rose just sat there, cross legged on the bed, with her eyebrows raised at him in mild amusement.

"What the hell?" he gasped, as his head dug it's way out of the heap. "What happened?"

"I just realised who's called a walking doodle," Rose shrugged. "Nothing to get in a flap over."

"Bloody hell Rose, I thought we were being attacked, or something!" Jack exclaimed as the rest of his body dug it's way out of the heap, and he stood up. Then he bundled the covers up into his arms and threw them at Rose, who ducked, but still ended up getting covered.

"Oi! D'you mind?!" she laughed, as she straightened them on the bed again, allowing Jack to climb back in, under them.

"So what's all this about a walking doodle? You disturbed my valuable beauty sleep, after all, so it had better be good."

"Well, basically," Rose started. "There's this woman...well, this bit of skin, actually - stretched across a metal frame with her brain pickling in a jar underneath..."

"Sounds charming," Jack frowned in disgust.

"And she's from the year 5.5/apple/26...or something..."

"Ah...the year the Earth died," Jack nodded.

"Could you please not interupt when I'm trying to explain?"

"Sorry."

"But yes, the year the Earth died...well...she's got this clone, who's covered in tattoos...called Chip...the _walking doodle._"

"Sorry...can't quite see the connection there," Jack frowned. Rose rolled her eyes in frustration and sighed.

"Just go back to sleep...I'll tell you in the morning."

"I was hoping you'd say that," he grinned cheekily. Leaning over, he kissed her lighly on the cheek, then settled down under the covers again, only to get kicked out by Rose, in retaliation for what he'd just said.

"Oi!" he cried as he once again found himself in a heap on the floor. Rose just laughed and settled down herself. By the time Jack had sorted himself out, she was fast asleep again, and he found he couldn't stay angry at her when she looked so peaceful.


	32. Sungliders and Supernovas

**Author Note: Hey guys, sorry for the REALLY long delay between the last chapter and this one. But things have just been so hectic lately, and then I got caught up watching the newest series of Doctor Who - how brilliant is it!! And of course, after the Episode Turn Left, I really wanted to get back to writing this again, lol, so here I am, writing again. For those of you who've seen the new series, you'll know where some of the stuff in these next few chapters come from...and even if you haven't...well, you'll soon understand what's going on, I hope, lol. Without trying to spoil too much for those of you who haven't seen series 4 yet, here's the latest chapter for you all! lol**

**Enjoy!**

**oOo**

The next morning, on their way to work, Rose and Scooti were chatting about everything and nothing - the weather, plans for the weekend, which actor was better looking, who should have won Britain's Got Talent, Rose's dream and it's meaning, the Walking Doodle, Rose's pregnancy, baby names - Just silly little random conversations that only two good friends could have.

However, as they passed by a group of tourists on Westminster Bridge and Rose had to step into the road to avoid a pushchair, Scooti grabbed her arm and pulled her back, with a warning look, and raised eyebrows.

"Remember what happened last time you did that?" she chided, and Rose grinned, nodding sheepishly. It seemed there were some things she'd never learn.

Tucking her hands into the pockets of her new leather jacket - which was in the same style as her old black one, but was a dark navy instead, she and Scooti continued on, through the streets and past the Royal Hope Hospital, which Rose and the rest of the Torchwood team had recently saved from an alien species called the Judoon.

"Wonder how Martha's getting on now," Scooti commented lightly. Rose paused and frowned.

"What?" Scooti asked.

"Martha? Martha who?"

"Jones. The med stude-"

"Martha Jones? I've heard that name before..." Rose interrupted, frowning.

"Oh don't start this whole 'I'm being followed by words' thing again," Scooti groaned with an exaggerated roll of her eyes. "Mickey told me about the last time that happened."

"Two times," Rose corrected. "But it's just a coincidence, that's all." She shrugged lightly. "I probably just heard someone say it once and remembered the name."

"Well she's a friend of mine...med student at the hospital, hoping to pass her exams. So you probably heard me talking about her to your Mum, the other day."

"Yeah...I s'pose," Rose nodded, not entirely convinced. She knew she'd heard that name before. But where? And why did she have the strangest feeling that the Doctor was behind it? Even after all these years, she was still being haunted by him. More now than she'd ever been before.

oOo

Further along, they passed a place called Adipose Industries. A tall building with a huge ADIPOSE sign on the front, above the rotating doors leading in to the entrance. It was a well known company who had recently revolutionised the diet pill by creating one unlike any other.

"That place is weird," Scooti commented, nodding to the building. "How can they have developed a pill that helps you lose weight so quickly? I mean...normal pills take weeks. But those take days, apparently."

"Yeah, there is something suspicious about it," Rose nodded, looking up at the building towering over them. "What is it they say in the adverts? 'The fat walks right off you' or something. Yeah right."

"Maybe we should check it out?" Scooti suggested, but Rose laughed and shook her head.

"Nah, I think we're just being paranoid. Come on."

They continued on, towards Torchwood Tower in the distance, not noticing a figure standing at the window watching them, dressed all in black, hair scraped back into a bun, thick rimmed spectacles perched on her nose, and a rather odd looking pen in her hand.

oOo

As Rose swiped her security clearance card through the scanner in the reception to sign herself in, her phone started to ring. Leaving Scooti to finish signing them both in, in the log-in book (for emergencies in case the systems ever shut down and a written copy was needed), Rose walked off into a quieter corner of the busy reception and answered her phone.

"Miss Tyler? It's Rajesh."

"Hey Raj, what's up?"

"There's something I think you need to see. I think I may have finally found a way to monitor the time spans of not only our universe, but of every other universe out there, using some of the parts from that sun-glider thing we salvaged recently. It's quite fascinating, actually. But there's one universe in particular...I've only managed to get readings from the others...but this one...If it is indeed another universe, and not just another part of this one...I've managed to get a visual link up from a satellite that seems to have been lost way out in space. The only universe of the lot that we can monitor visually, but I thought you'd be interested to see."

"I'm on my way," Rose replied excitedly. This was something she and Raj been secretly working on for years, ever since Rose had come to this universe, in fact. Because she was so desperate to see the Doctor again...find a way back to him. Over time, however, it looked like that would be impossible, so she'd given up and moved on with her life. But apparently Raj hadn't...and now...

"Scooti! Raj has done it!" she called over as she put away her phone.

"Done what?" Scooti replied, confused. But Rose didn't reply. She was already sprinting for the elevator.

oOo

"You realise it might not even be _his _Universe, don't you?" Mickey was saying as he and Rose walked into the very top floor of the newly reconstructed Torchwood Tower. Rose had assumed Pete's office was the top floor, until Raj had shown her this floor, right on top of Pete's - unknown to everyone but himself, Pete and now Rose and Mickey, too. This would have been the exact same part of the tower that she'd arrived in all those years ago, after Pete had caught her and saved her from the void, but transported her back here and effectively trapped her, instead. That huge white wall over at the end...she'd sobbed her heart out against that wall, begging to be taken back...pleading and weeping and banging her hands against it furiously. And then she'd heard something...and had stopped to listen. A heartbeat. Two heartbeats. His heartbeats?

Or was it just her own, echoing over and over in her ears.

She was so sure she'd heard the Doctor's hearts beating on the other side of that wall, for just a few seconds, before they had vanished and she'd forced herself to walk away. Course, that had been in the old tower...the one that was destroyed. But even so, she couldn't help walking over to the wall now, and just resting a hand on it's smooth white surface.

"Miss Tyler." Raj called out in greeting to her as he walked in through the door at the opposite end of the room, carrying a laptop, a small projector and a bundle of wires, which he threw across the floor to unravel them. Then he set the laptop on the floor at one end of the line of wires, the projector at the other end, pointing towards the wall where Rose now stood, and finally attached the wires so that the projector started to project the computer screen onto the wall. Rose, blinded by the bright light, stepped out of the picture and walked over to where Mickey was standing, just behind Raj.

"See, now when this first happened, I wasn't sure if it was just showing us pictures of this place, or of a whole other Universe, because how can you tell?"

Rose shrugged, because she didn't actually have an answer to this.

"Well, I decided to do a little test," Raj explained as he clicked some buttons on the laptop, typed in a few passwords and other things, and finally pulled up a video played, which was projected onto the wall. "This was recorded this morning, using the increased range of the sun-glider's own technology. Our satellites and technology would never have picked this up...but that sun-glider can send and receive signals up to a million miles further than we can," He explained, before pressing the 'enter' button on the keyboard to show them what he was actually talking about.

The video started playing, and Rose and Mickey watched intently as a satellite image beamed a picture of the sun onto the wall, burning away. Only, Rose realised after a second that it wasn't the sun, because it was glowing purple and orange and was only half as bright as the sun. She'd seen an image like this before...from one of the NASA websites she'd caught Jack Jnr hacking into a few years back.

"That's...that's a supernova!" she exclaimed.

"Yes. An ancient one, that burnt up billions of years ago...in _this_ Universe."

"So then...how come we can still see it?" Mickey asked, confused.

"Well, normally, stars like this are so far away that it takes billions of years for the light to reach us. So it could well have died out billions of years ago, but the light hasn't reached us yet, so we're still seeing it..._or..._"

"Or it's the same star in a different Universe," Rose completed, although she didn't actually sound like she believed it.

"Well yes. But...look at this," Raj replied, taping a few things into the keyboard so that the picture zoomed in, closer to the supernova. "What do you make of that? I've certainly never seen anything like it...even at that distance, nothing could survive the extreme heat. So what's it doing there?"

Orbiting the supernova was a tiny blue box shaped object, impossible to make out clearly from where they were standing.

"Just coz you've never seen it, doesn't mean its not part of our Universe," Mickey replied sceptically. "Isn't that right, Rose...Rose?"

Rose was frowning at the screen, arms folded, a look of severe concentration on her face as she stared at the object. "Can you get any closer?" she asked, turning to look back at Raj.

"I can try," Raj nodded, tapping away at the keyboard again. The image zoomed in closer, although it became less focused and harder to make out everything. Rose squinted her eyes and stepped towards the wall a little.

"I did try zooming in closer when I first watched the footage, but that was as close as I could get, and I couldn't sharpen the image enough to clearly make out what it is..."

"But?" Mickey asked, sensing there was more.

"But...I did pick up a very faint audio clip too."

Another button was pressed and a sharp crackling filled the room, causing both Mickey and Rose to throw their hands over their ears. Raj cringed and frantically pressed some more buttons, lowering the volume until it was at a tolerable level.

"Sorry," he muttered.

After a moment, the crackling evened out and became more like static, and slowly...very faintly...the sound of voices could be heard through the crackling. Indistinguishable at first, but slowly becoming clearer.

"Again, I had to use the sun-glider's technology. This would have been impossible to pick up with the stuff we've got here."

Rose stood staring at the image of the burning supernova, and the strange object orbiting it. She quietly listened to the static and the voice hidden within it, trying to make out what was being said. And then, as if she'd been slapped, her eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open a little, as a voice...that oh so familiar voice...echoed around the room, suddenly as clear as if he'd been standing right next to her.

_"__You can't do that, I wasn't... we're in flight! That is-- that is physically impossible! How did--??_"

"Rose that's...that's...Is it?" Mickey started, seemingly just as amazed as she was, as they listened to the voice.

"Yeah," she nodded, suddenly breathless. It was him!

"_Tell me where I am. I demand you tell me right now - where am I?" a female voice could be heard, shouting so loud that even through the static, Rose doubted whether her voice would have been drowned out._

_"Inside the - " _

A loud burst of static interrupted the clip, causing it to fizzle out and go back to the static crackling once more._._

Rose walked right up to the picture on the wall then, and traced the outline of the shape with her finger. It was still just a blurred image, but she knew...she just knew it was him. There was no doubt about it.

"Can you play it again?" she asked, almost desperately, suddenly seeming to snap from her trance and spinning on the spot to face Raj. Raj nodded and obliged by replaying the clip. When she asked him to pause it, he did...and then he sat there, silently waiting as she studied the picture, as if expecting something from her. Praise? An explanation? A rollicking for getting it wrong? Something!

But she said nothing. She just stared at the wall, as if mesmerised. He looked to Mickey, but Mickey was just standing watching Rose watch the image on the wall. Two of a kind, they were!

In the end, he cleared his throat.

"So, Miss Tyler...is it another Universe we're seeing? Or is it something from our own?"

"Raj..." she said quietly, still looking at the image. "See if you can clear up this image...and that sound. That's the only way we can know for sure that it's him. And keep working on this time line observation thing. I want it to be perfect before we show Dad or any of the others..."

"But who's 'he'? Who are you talking about?"

"Just call me when you've improved the quality of those images, yeah? And make sure you record any more that you manage to find. I don't want to miss a thing. Oh, and not a word of this to anyone, yeah? Keep it between us three...and JUST us three, until I say so."

"Yes Miss Tyler," he nodded with a sigh as he shut down the laptop, collected up the wires and projector, then left the room. How people ever put up with her when she was so strange...he'd never know. Still, it was not his place to argue with or speak ill of the boss's daughter, so he kept his thoughts to himself as he went back to his lab to carry out her request.

"Rose," Mickey said quietly as he walked up to her. "Was that...really him?"

"I think so," she nodded. "But until Raj tidies that clip up, we can't know for certain. What we do know, though...is that things are gonna get a whole lot worse," she replied darkly, placing a hand back on the wall once more, almost tentatively, as if she was afraid to touch it now.

"How do you mean?" Mickey asked, noting her anxious expression. "I thought you wanted to get back to the Doctor?"

"I did...I still do! But you remember what he said? About the Universes and moving between the two?"

_The whole thing would fracture. Two Universes would collapse._

"He said the two Universes would collapse, if anything tried to come through now that the breach is closed." Mickey replied after careful consideration, remembering back to the beach when Rose had said what she thought would be her last ever goodbye to the man she'd loved. Then he looked at Rose in alarm. "So...so if we can see through the breach into his world. If light and sound are starting to seep through...then the walls are weakening."

"Exactly," Rose nodded. "We've no idea how much longer they'll hold before they collapse completely. It could be billions of years, or just a few days."

"And when they do?" Mickey dared to ask the question that they were both thinking. The silence that followed pretty much confirmed what they were both thinking.

_This is bad!_


End file.
